THEATRE GOSSIP #534: The "Are You There, Datalounge? It's Me, Gwen Verdon!" Edition

Previous thread:

The Battle of Verdon will go down in DL history.

Well done, OP.

The Battle of Verdon would have been a GREAT title for this thread :-)

Nothin' goin' on but the grosses.

In unsurprising news, OUAOMT and BEAUTIFUL NOISE continue to not sell, not really.

PLAYBILL explains it all for you...

$269,501? It looks like the shark really is broken.

Finally, a halfway decent title. Bravo/a, OP.

[quote] OUAOMT

ROtFL

Hadestown is still a marvel to me. Sold out, avg ticket price over $100. Is that the power of the Tony Award for Best Musical?

I watched a bootleg of the recent ITW revival on YouTube. Block and hubby, Patina as the Witch. I hated the production. Maybe I needed to be there in person to experience the magic? Saw the original at least 10x and it's one of the best productions I've ever seen. Block was terrible. Sebastian made no impression. Miller was nothing special. Did anyone tell Creel the prince is supposed to be straight? Staging and especially choreography were community theatre level. But I did like Milky White.

I did not care for SHARK IS BROKEN (except for the gratuitous speedo-ing). But to be fair, the Golden is tiny.

(Note also: the average ticket price was $45!)

BREAKING

Derek Klena and Ali Stroker will now join The New York Pops and Music Director Steven Reineke for its season opening concert, 21st Century Broadway, on Friday, October 27, 2023 at 8:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall. They replace previously announced soloists Jeremy Jordan and Elizabeth Stanley, who had to withdraw due to scheduling conflicts.

Good for Ali for just rolling in there at a moment's notice!

[quote]Is that the power of the Tony Award for Best Musical?

If it is, then what a strange loop!

R14 this is why I still read DL

In the documentary on our Gwen, they stated she got a feather caught in her throat during Charity and it fucked with her voice.

From IMDB

[quote] Before "Sweet Charity" made it to Broadway, her throat began hurting, but she continued to sing until she was almost completely voiceless. She was hospitalized, and it was discovered that a feather from one of the boas used for a costume was wrapped around her vocal cords.

Jordan and Stanley BOTH had scheduling conflicts? Hmmm..

Jeremy: I'm sorry, I have a scheduling conflict, so I can't do the concert.

Elizabeth: Hey, that's the same excuse I used.

Jeremy: Bitch, I thought we agreed that I would use that one!

Elizabeth: But, fuckwad, I got to them first.

Jeremy: Ok, saggy tits, I just texted them and told them that the reason you can't do the concert is that you are having cunt reconstruction.

A Beautiful Noise is NOT making beautiful noise at the Box Office.

Verdon was lying. It was polyps on her throat. I knew someone in Chicago at the time. Of course it’s understandable she lied because she dudn’t want anybody to think it was a health situation where her voice was being affected by something which could possibly recur later on, hindering further employment.

Hey, DL-sleuths... I was told the the end of the run of Cabaret in Pittsfield, MA was a rough one with the actor playing the Emcee cancelling because it/he/they/any* couldn't go on due to mental "exhaustion" and that things got dicier when the actor playing Cliff had to rush to his wife... pregnancy complications (scary for them). Not enough replacements or understudies...

Anyone with the inside scoop of what went down when the Kit Kat Club went dark?

* the actor's bio in the program listed pronouns as "all/any" - huh? But whatever, it's 2023 baby!!!

Well, it was Pittsfield, MA.

The story in the bios is that Verdon inhaled a piece of confetti that is shot out of a canon at the end of "I'm My Own Best Friend" and it caused the injury. Sammy Davis even said it was polyps on the show with Liza and Chita.

I saw Chita in the national tour of Sweet Charity in Boston in 1967. She was wonderful but I did miss Gwen's red hair which was such a great accent to her little black dress. I wondered if Chita should have been costumed in a little red dress....

Anyone curious about the Betty Boop musical that will be trying out in Chicago early this fall? There's no real story or theme or much of anything to the original Betty Boop cartoons, barely a character beyond her iconic look, so I wonder what the musical's take on it all will be. She was hardly a feminist.

Has anyone heard anything? Casting? I know everyone here thinks they inevitably have to cast an actress of color but would that really work with a character whose look is so well known, even today? Have they had a NY workshop yet?

Imagine these meetings

r28, one thing I'll tell ya, there's nothing "esteemed" about Pittsburgh Public Theater.

[quote]Before "Sweet Charity" made it to Broadway, her throat began hurting, but she continued to sing until she was almost completely voiceless. She was hospitalized, and it was discovered that a feather from one of the boas used for a costume was wrapped around her vocal cords.

[quote]The story in the bios is that Verdon inhaled a piece of confetti that is shot out of a canon at the end of "I'm My Own Best Friend" and it caused the injury. Sammy Davis even said it was polyps on the show with Liza and Chita.

So Gwen used a similar story to explain her vocal problems in both SWEET CHARITY and CHICAGO, I guess hoping that no one would notice. I've always felt that fellow who wrote to her asking for a refund because she chose not to sing "Where Am I Going?" in the performance of SWEET CHARITY that he attended was justified, but Gwen only refunded him a small portion of what he had paid for the ticket, arguing that she had performed the vast majority of the show that night. Apparently, Cy Coleman was very upset that she would often drop that song, which is not surprising.

Martin Gottfried said she tried to drop a ridiculous number of songs from a performance of Redhead, like 5 or 6, the authors went to the Guild to complain.

To play Devil's Advocate, please remember that those Verdon shows were before the use of body mics. And Merman, Martin, Channing, et. al, danced very little when they performed, certainly not with the power, agility and expertise of Verdon.

Interesting, R31. Yet her reputation somehow remained pristine despite all of that, I guess because she could be so charming on stage and in real life, and also because she was a fabulous performer when she did decide to give her all.

Regardless, Verdon was a pro, even though she had a relatively spotty reputation for missing performances. And everyone loved her.

That's very true, R32. Still and all, "Where Am I Going?" did not require any dancing WHILE Gwen was performing it. She just needed to stand there and sing it, but the problem was that her voice had already deteriorated markedly by that point in her career. And she knew it, which is why she frequently dropped the song, but obviously, that wasn't a great way to deal with the issue.

Who was Nikki, r26?

Helen Gallagher and Thelma Oliver recreated their roles in the national tour with Chita as Charity, r36.

Not a Giulieeta in the bunch, r37.

once again, DL theatre queens are relegated to musical theatre of the mid-20th century... Fosse, Verdon, Follies, Fosse, Verdon, follies, Fosse, Verdon, Follies...

[quote]Has anyone heard anything? Casting?

Hey, Mr. Producer! I have experience!

So there’s a group (or 1 or 2?) that have been alive long enough to share total recall of that one Broadway show which played when 80% of the world’s population was in utero or just a twinkle in someone’s eye.

Not a complaint, just an observation 😵‍💫☠️

Well there was no dancing in Charity's Soliloquy in the first Act. It was removed in the Debbie Allen revival.

Not true about no dancing for Verdon in "Where Am I Going?" It wasn't strenuous dancing as in the rest of the show, but there were definitely some balletic moves which you can imagine in the dance breaks you hear in the music.

And the song is near the end when she'd be exhausted from everything that came before. I wonder if she baulked when the song was originally presented to her and asked then if it could be cut? Great song though it is, it's really not that effective or necessary in context, esp. sung by a non-belter.

Bonnie Langford did a revival of Sweet Charity in London about 25 years ago. It was a shit-show.

Why didn't they bring in a big name to replace Gwen as Charity on Broadway? Sorry, Helen.

I’m the “Barbie is a monster hit” OP. Listen to me when I say “Back to the Future: The Musical” is a monster hit. Every kid who has seen enough of Wicked & The Lion King will want to go to BTTF multiple times. Boys And Girls, not to mention the adults who loved the movie. It won’t run 30 years but it could outlast every show currently running. You heard it here first.

Regarding the previous thread, apparently Kantor & Ed wrote NY NY with LMM who apparently wrote a musical about Andrew Hamilton? Wow.

Yes R46, we know. It's B*R*O*A*D*W*A*Y. Shit sells.

The Battle of Verdon is brilliant. Too bad OP didn’t use it for the title.

A glimpse of Bonnie Langford’s Charity

It would have been very difficult to find a "big name" who could dance, act, and . . . yes sing as well as Verdon. The only popular star who did the role was Juliet Prowse.

"Popular star", r51?

Prowse's singing on the London cast recording is wonderful. Prowse also played Verdon's "Can-Can" part in the Sinatra movie.

Langford stole Gypsy from Lansbury. She did it in London but Equity insisted the role go to an American when it transferred. After auditions, Equity agreed she was irreplaceable. Not a lot but it starts around 4:20

[quote]Langford stole Gypsy from Lansbury

Lol, no.

Stole?

Bonnie got raves in Gypsy but Baby June is gone after the first 15 mins. No danger of stealing the show.

There was a generation of years between the Lansbury GYPSY and Merman's and audiences and even critics had forgotten the brilliance of all those secondary scene-stealing roles when played expertly as they were in the Lansbury revival, including Mary Louise Wilson as Tessie Tura/Miss Cratchit, Denny Dillon as Agnes and John Sheridan (WHET?) as Tulsa.

But of course, Lansbury was the revelation as a Rose with charm, an entirely new notion.

Roz had plenty of charm, r58. Who was it who said "With Merman you got goosebumps and with Lansbury you got tears."?

R57 how long was Marilyn Cooper (the original Agnes in the Merman Gypsy) in Woman of the Year? How long was Bonnie Franklin in Applause......oh never mind.

There's charm and then there's CHARM, r59.

There's also vivacity and charm.

R43, in my opinion, it's vital that Charity sing "Where Am I Going?" somewhere towards the end of the show. (The placement of the song is somewhat different in the show and in the movie, but effective in both slots.) She really needs a serious number like that, where she's finally taking a long, hard look at her life.

Prowse as Roxie with Bebe Neuwirth as Velma in Long Beach (1992). Four great legs!

Marilyn Cooper ended up understudying and going on as Louise towards the end of Gypsy's original run. She also played Tessie Tura is a summer tour in the 70s.

Prowse was indeed a star; not a big one, but one who could draw a crowd. She co-starred with Elvis, starred in a sitcom, famously dated Sinatra, and made the news when Khrushchev visited the set of Can Can. People knew who she was, and she wouldn't have headlined CHARITY in London if she was a nobody.

Is there anyone currently headlining on Broadway that aging Millennials and Gen Z will discuss the way we are discussing Verdon/Prowse/Lansbury/Channing/Merman/Martin/Rivera?

This board will still be talking about Lea Michele

I don't think Juliet Prowse ever appeared on Broadway, originating or replacing, and I wonder if that was by her own choice. She certainly did tons of theater in her later decades and was fabulously talented. I think she was also very well-liked and respected by her colleagues.

Prowse was on Broadway in 1962 in EDDIE FISHER AT THE WINTER GARDEN. And she toured as MAME in 1990.

[Quote] Who was it who said "With Merman you got goosebumps and with Lansbury you got tears."?

Probably someone here on Datalounge. THEATRE GOSSIP #17. THEATRE GOSSIP #104. THEATRE GOSSIP #331, 332 and 333 (where its origin source was in sufferably debated for 23 posts). And THEATRE GOSSIP #400.

R71, the quote was in Zadan's book "Sondheim and Company". I think Ruth Mitchell might have said it.

Prowse was interesting because although she sang and acted, she was primarily a dancing star. She made her career in Vegas and Reno doing it. I think there were some in the 80s because of MTV who could have gone that route but they were flash in the pans like Toni Basil and Paula Abdul.

[quote]Probably someone here on Datalounge. THEATRE GOSSIP #17. THEATRE GOSSIP #104. THEATRE GOSSIP #331, 332 and 333 (where its origin source was in sufferably debated for 23 posts). And THEATRE GOSSIP #400.

Honey, we worry.

R27, Boops look with the slicked down hair was more common among black women than white. Plus the cartoons were in b&w so you did not get skin tone.

When I was a kid, I thought Boop was supposed to be black.

Betty started out as a dog.

I think future generations will absolutely talk about Bernie, Patti and Betty in addition to Audra and Cheno. But there will be different times because of video. Angela said that she became known for Sweeney Todd much more than Mame because it was taped and saw a far, far greater viewing audience.

Wonder if that tape Angie made of the Mame revival will ever see the light of day. Perhaps Ken Mandelbaum is clutching it to his bosom and calling it “My precious!”

Since the production itself was such shit, better for her legacy for it to remain with Mandelbaum.

What’s sad is Patti LuPone doesn’t have a tape of her 3 biggest triumphs.

1) Evita

2) Gypsy

3) The Anarchist with Debra Winger

R79. I have bootlegs of all three and The Anarchist is awful. I don't think she'd want a video of that.

thatsthejoke.mp4

Yeah the anarchist was a joke lol

What is the appeal of MAME? The movie bored me, can't really remember the songs, and it left almost no impression on me when I heard songs elsewhere.

But I loved the biography of Patrick Dennis, his life could be a fun musical. It was funny to read about a man who avoids consistent work and then becomes a butler at the end of his life for fun!

R67 There is no Grand Dame/Big Lady show kind of fame anymore. Here are my guesses:

Lea Michele: people grew up with her on Glee, Spring awakening and Funny Girl. Her beefs with Glee members and the FG replacement are gossip fuel, not to mention her talent. I think she is close to sold out for Carnegie Hall.

-Maybe Alex Brightman, since many Beetlejuice fans got dressed up when I went to see it. I basically never see that in other shows. He was also in School of Rock, many Gen Z people's first musical as kids. Generally good reviews in anything he does, too.

-Josh Groban? Sweeney and Great Comet, combined with wider music industry fame. I assume he'll do another big role on Broadway after Sweeney in a year or 2.

Well, thinking about it, wasn't Jerry the only one to do big lady shows?

Lea Michele has a VERY long way to go before being considered a legend. Maybe getting one or two original shows under her belt would help. And those are the kind nobody writes any more.

[quote] Lea Michele has a VERY long way to go before being considered a legend. Maybe getting one or two original shows under her belt would help. And those are the kind nobody writes any more.

You mean like Spring Awakening and Ragtime?

Josh Groban IS Vernon Gersch! Lea Michele IS Sonia Walsk! Julie Benko IS Thursday night Sonia!

The “direct from the Kennedy Center” on the Spamalot ads is funny, as though the Kennedy Center has never produced stinky shit.

Lea was not the star of Spring Awakening or Ragtime. If that's the criteria, I think Adele Dazeem has as much of a chance of being considered a contemporary legend.

Adele is a contemporary legend!

Have we mentioned that DL faves Linda Emond and Wesley Taylor are playing mother and (very gay) son on "Only Murders in the Building"?

[quote]Maybe Alex Brightman, since many Beetlejuice fans got dressed up when I went to see it. I basically never see that in other shows. He was also in School of Rock, many Gen Z people's first musical as kids. Generally good reviews in anything he does, too.

I just saw him in THE SHARK IS BROKEN. He's good, but there's nothing brilliant or legend-making about his performance (or that of the other leads). Maybe he'll land something spectacular in the future, but there's nothing about his work so far that stands out to me vs that of a handful of other leading men his age.

R92 we noticed and the lack of comment is the response.

And have we noticed Meryl's atrocious wig-line on her forehead in her first scene?

R95 we noticed and our lack of comment is our response

Meryl's finally looking her age. Linda Emond, on the other hand, has been glammed up for this and looks fabulous.

Meryl is aging but aging beautifully you cryptkeeper r97

We also noticed your lack of Oscars Glenn @ r96

[quote]Wonder if that tape Angie made of the Mame revival will ever see the light of day. Perhaps Ken Mandelbaum is clutching it to his bosom and calling it “My precious!”

A bootleg video of that MAME production has been in circulation for some time, but I don't believe it's true that Angie "made" it, whatever you mean by that. The video is only average in quality, certainly not great but good enough for one to enjoy her performance.

Lea Michele is not top-drawer. Without Streisand’s performance to ape, she can’t do shit.

Lea's next project will be very telling. Can she maintain her audience, how good is her performance, etc.

Gloom, doom, theatre goes boom...

Lea for the Piaf revival.

That theater article is weak. Writer completely discounts great regional orgs like Goodspeed and Signature that show new work by living writers and truly reimagine revivals. The idea of watching a poorly executed Pacific Overtures in a mosquito-ridden backyard is fucking ridiculous. She has a point on too many expanding campuses but then loses it.

"Instead of a world in which you pay astronomical prices to see another tired revival from the mezzanine, imagine there are a dozen theater cells in your area, performing new work in backyards and parks and city squares and empty storefronts. Art that is fresh, fluid, immediate, accessible and affordable — to make and to see — all because we collectively decided to fund the artists directly. That’s the future I want. I can live without million-dollar rotating sets."

r101=Gloria Upson

Lea for a revival of Seesaw. With Norm Lewis in the Ken Howard role.

So then Lea will just channel Michele Lee. Waiting to see her do something entirely original.

PS No one wants to see a revival of Seesaw.

Lea for Sally Bowles.

[quote]Pat Collins played the Rona Barrett-type reviewer in All That Jazz. I don't know if she and Fosse had an affair, but bios said he would regularly send her flowers saying things like "miss you".

Catching up with the Gwen and Fosse stuff on the last thread and this one, the TV critic in "All That Jazz" was played by the writer (and former dancer) Chris Chase, not by the movie critic Pat Collins. Chase was a long-time friend of Fosse's who used the pseudonym Irene Kane when she acted.

I knew it couldn't have been Pat Collins fucking around with Fosse in All That Jazz!

Or even Ingrid Bergman’s daughter, Pia.

There was a British theater critic on WABC Eyewitness News who wasn’t bad looking, forget his name, I bet he got some Broadway ass now and then.

Oh right! Who was that British critic, r112? I can almost just see his face....someone here will remember.

[quote]someone here will remember.

Fat chance.

[quote]She has a point on too many expanding campuses but then loses it.

R105 she went all communist. 😂

R112-Kevin Sanders.

R112 Addison DeWitt

And I believe Kevin Sanders might have been from Australia.

Speaking of Ingrid Bergman's daughter, Isabella Rossellini's Instagram is wild and one of the most delightful things. Her voice is tranquility itself.

That’s right, R116/R118-an Aussie named Kevin Sanders. He had a certain elegance. Good looking guy

I found some relatively recent videos (from the last 20 years) of Kevin Sanders on youtube but he looks so ancient they're not worth posting here.

Agree about Isabella Rossellini's Insta! She hasn't had any work done, lives on a farm surrounded by sheep and chickens and dogs and her posts just make me giddy. So adorable and smart and life-affirming. She was brought up well.

THE SHARK IS BROKEN opens tonight!

Scorsese cast Kevin Sanders in the small role of the Duke of St. Austrey in "The Age of Innocence." Countess Olenska describes the Duke as "the dullest man I ever met." Was this Scorsese's jokey revenge on a critic who, apparently, gave "Taxi Driver" a bad review?

I'd forgotten what a dull and pompous movie THE AGE OF INNOCENCE is, despite Michelle and Daniel DL. Who was the wag who called it THE AGE OF CUFFLINKS?

That musical scoring behind THE AGE OF INNOCENCE scene (and Joanne Woodward's insistent narration) at r123 sounded exactly like it was lifted form CANDIDE!

r122 can someone please post pics of Colin in his black speedos? Asking for my mother.

Your mother should be ashamed of herself.

R127 hey Betty Buckley! Welcome to DL

NYT reviews "The Shark Is Broken":

Deadline:

Jesse Green says, "Robert [Shaw] won an Oscar for 'A Man for All Seasons'." That's news to Walter Matthau...

I'll just leave this here with no comment....

He's cute. That's all.

R131 how can an entertainment writer make a mistake like that?

Plus, it's not hard to find the answer.

How did the N.Y. Times editorial fact checkers miss it too?

" Due to severe budget cuts, we have had to eliminate the positions of fact checker and proofreader from our organization."

Fox News has never had a fact checker.

Well it's not as if he would have much to check, r137.

R131, Wikipedia looks as if it says Shaw won the Oscar, but the sentence is ambiguous. That is where I am sure Greene looked.

Apparently you should just watch the movie because Back to the Future doesn't offer anything exciting or interesting on Broadway.

Is editors necessary?

Rarely is the question asked.

[quote]Fox News has never had a fact checker.

Really? Aren't they worried that a some correct information might slip through?

R108- Most of what Lea has done has been wholly original- Ragtime, Spring Awakening, Glee.

R144 wasn't her child role in RAGTIME small but important?

And she was the female lead in SPRING AWAKENING, so it's not like she was just part of the ensemble in those two shows.

Not to mention, she was the definite lead in GLEE.

Lea's role in RAGTIME was important to the plot, but the character has very little to do in terms of actual acting and singing. However, her role in SPRING AWAKENING was definitely the female lead with a lot to do in an original musical (based on an old play).

r140- I've seen BACK TO THE FUTURE: THE MUSICAL and it's a blast. Hearing a live orchestra play the score from the movie plus some of the new songs are very good. I'm a huge fan of the movie and the musical. And SPOILER

At the end, the car flies over the audience with no apparent cords and then flips upside down and back with Doc & Marty inside and and then zooms upstag and is gone. It's an exciting finish to a fun night. I highly recommend it.

upstage

Yes, r145

To be fair Bernadette Peters was a major star of musical theatre and she only created:

Mack and Mabel

Sunday in the Park

Into the Woods

The Goodbye Girl

Patti was even worse

The Bakers Wife

Evita

Women on the Verge

War Paint

You left out La Strada and Song & Dance, r150.

R150 And they are both nearly 40 years older than Lea.

War Paint was Ebersole, not Peters.

The Times corrected Green’s review.

Read r150 again, r153.

These children just can't do a whole performance week. Nicole shan't do Mondays.

R156 to quote a wise woman, "And Eve was weak."

R156. I hope SB has better luck than Aspects of Love which is closing three months early.

NYT corrected Jesse’s error! At least half the online comments for that review in the Times called him out for the failure. Well done DL!

What a dumb fucking mistake. Jesse sucks.

To be fair, Mary Martin created

Lute Song South Pacific Peter Pan Sound of Music Jennie (She was a supporting performer in Leave It To Me)

Only three of these can be considered major.

r150/r151 What definition of "created" are we going with here? Originated on Broadway, perhaps, but created?

Lansbury was Anyone can Whistle, Mame and Sweeney Todd.

Alexis and Dorothy......

I was going with created on Broadway, r162.

Aren't you forgetting something, r163?

Well, I guess I was like everyone else R163. So throw in Dear World and that's two classics and two flops. In addition to Gypsy (not at all a financial hit on Broadway) and ALNM, which although she was not technically the star, she could have been considered BO. She did a revival of Mame that was also a huge flop.

[quote]Gypsy (not at all a financial hit on Broadway)

The Lansbury GYPSY Broadway transfer was not a hit?

I always assumed it was, because the way it's been talked around here, I figured it was very well-received by both critics and audiences and was showered with accolades.

It was, r168. It did fine financially (especially with its pre-Broadway tour).

Sutton Foster owns all these women:

MILLIE

LITTLE WOMEN

DROWSY

YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN

SHREK

r170, you're forgetting...

VIOLET

VIOLET had already been produced Off Bway with a different actress.

She didn't originate Violet. Lauren Ward did.

VIOLET was a revival

Gypsy ran for a feeble 120 performances with Lansbury. Although they claim it was a limited run, the early success bumped "The Wiz" from the Winter Garden in hopes of a long run. The BO receipts began really suffering and they closed the show. Lansbury's Mame revival almost didn't even make it to Broadway because it was so poorly received, by critics and audiences. It ran 41 performances at the Gershwin.

Now in fairness to Lansbury, she got great reviews but like almost all Sondheim musicals, the revivals almost never do as well as the originals.

Including plays, Nathan has created 13 roles on Broadway. Even more if you include Off Bway.

Why the bad wigs on the guitar players in that BTTF clip? And the songs seem like they're being played at the wrong speed.

R170 and she accomplished all of that in her late twenties/early thirties over the span of nearly a decade!

If you think the ladies' wigs in Back to the Future are anybody's priority, aesthetically or financially, r177, you don't know Broadway.

Excepting MILLIE and DROWSY CHAPERONE, none of Sutton's other original roles will ever be talked about in the future. There's far more interest and chat still in Lansbury's performances in her flops DEAR WORLD, ANYONE CAN WHISTLE and even PRETTYBELLE.

I could probably make a case for Patti's and Bernadette's flops, too. And please add GEORGE M! to Bernadette's original roles.

[quote]but like almost all Sondheim musicals, the revivals almost never do as well as the originals.

That's true of most shows, r175.

R181, but it is pertinent because Sondheim fans insist his work is so ahead of its time but future audiences aren't relating to them any more than the original audiences did.

[quote]Excepting MILLIE and DROWSY CHAPERONE, none of Sutton's other original roles will ever be talked about in the future. There's far more interest and chat still in Lansbury's performances in her flops DEAR WORLD, ANYONE CAN WHISTLE and even PRETTYBELLE.

Yeah, well, 'Shrek,' 'Young Frankenstein,' and 'Little Women' are put on annually by high schools. There's also a 'Shrek, Jr.' for middle schoolers.

You can't say the same for 'Dear World,' 'Anyone Can Whistle,' or 'Prettybelle.' Does anyone anywhere ever put them on?

And you missed the point, as any h.s. Drama chair could tell you R183

[quote]To be fair, Mary Martin created Lute Song South Pacific Peter Pan Sound of Music Jennie (She was a supporting performer in Leave It To Me)

Also I DO! I DO!, which was far more successful than LUTE SONG or JENNIE. I'm really surprised you left that one out.

I, for one, would LOVE to see a high school do Prettybelle.

Well I created the American Mrs Margaret White in Carrie so where is MY fucking medal?

FOLLIES

Dear Mr. Cuntly

I am merely observing how bad the wigs look, and how obvious the men's wigs look in comparison to the real hair on the Marty character. And I don't give a shit about Broad Way.

r185, I'm surprised too! Did I see and love I Do! I Do! ? Yes, I did! Sorry.

Hey! What about ME!?! I originated more parts than all of ya put together!

[quote]Jesse sucks.

I thought the Time made a mistake when they hired him, but I think he has gotten much better since sitting in the big chair. His writing has improved so that he's often enjoyable to read, and his critical eye has sharpened.

Lansbury's performances Dear World and Prettybelle will likely never be spoken of anywhere but DL and rarely even here. We all know why Whistle will be talked about and it has nothing to do with Lansbury. Since anyone who actually saw World and/or PB are either dead or really, really eldergays, it won't make for great dialogue.

*Must* you post in proclamations, r193?

Let the joyful news be spread! The wicked old witch now is dead!

R161, R185, & R190, you all forgot ONE TOUCH OF VENUS! Turn in your gay cards at once! I guess straight plays, National tours and London don't count? If they did, we could add KIND SIR, DO YOU TURN SOMERSAULTS?, ANNIE GET YOUR GUN, SOUTH PACIFIC & HELLO, DOLLY!

All proclamations aside, the reason someone like Sutton Foster will be spoken of more frequently than Lansbury is because most if not all of her stage work exists on tape, even bootleg. Exactly what Lansbury noted about Sweeney Todd.

Jesse's reviews are scattershot and ignorant without a scintilla of wit.

But he throws in a misleading Final Jeopardy answer just to see if you’re still awake half-way thru the review. Little did he know..,

Just because...

R191- same as Nathan. 13.

THIS DAY IN BROADWAY HISTORY: In 1924, "Dancing Mothers" opened at the Booth Theatre.

r202...

I saw the Shark play. No reason for it to exist.

R204-Nor you.

R205=Bruce

Oh, sorry R205. Did you like it? I'm genuinely curious. All are doing good work, but I just couldn't figure out what the point of the play was. Other than Ian Shaw wanting to honor his dad, which I think he has done. (Though he was my least favorite of the three of them.)

R205 totally uncalled for

I note that in "Dancing Mothers" (@ R203) Helen Hayes played Catherine "Kittens" Westcourt!

Mary Martin also "created" I DO, I DO.

For all her accomplishments, nowadays Mary Martin is perhaps best known to the general public as "Larry Hagman's mom."

He starred in two classic TV shows that are still watched and beloved today -- I DREAM OF JEANNIE and DALLAS.

'Tony Nelson' and especially 'JR Ewing' are both iconic characters.

Except that most people today don't remember Larry Hagman.

Tony Nelson—right up there with Archie Bunker, Mary Richards and Frasier Crane! 😳

Hate to tell you but most stars are forgotten 75 years after their big hits. Do you think people under 35 really know much about Cary Grant, Bette Davis, Marlon Brando, Elizabeth Taylor, et. al. other than MAYBE being able to identify them in a headshot?

No one watches "Dallas" today.

Wasn’t Dallas about the Kennedy assassination?

Y'all need to get out of your Broadway bubble if you think the real world doesn't still watch I DREAM OF JEANNIE or DALLAS. The latter even had a revival a few years back. People may not know Larry Hagman by name, but they do recognize Tony and JR on sight.

Mary Martin also did the 1955 revival of Skin of Our Teeth as Sabina. It was telecast, too.

I agree about the importance of film and TV in cementing a Bway performer's fame. Lots of us grew up knowing Angela Lansbury from MURDER SHE WROTE and even as the unmistakable voice of Mrs. Potts in BEAUTY & THE BEAST before coming to know her Bway triumphs from earlier. I knew Merman from seeing MAD MAD WORLD and old footage from TV guest spots. I barely had any sense of Mary Martin at all.

And yes, somewhere people are still watching I DREAM OF JEANNIE. For all the disposability of most shows, TV makes people live forever in a way that theatre and feature films no longer do.

Mary Martin is almost certainly most known for "Peter Pan," since that was broadcast on TV—then subsequently released on VHS and DVD. It also used to air on the Disney Channel quite a lot back in the day.

I think it helps if you do something that kids like or recognize. Animaniacs easily bought Bernadette Peters another decade of familiarity.

[quote]Animaniacs easily bought Bernadette Peters another decade of familiarity.

Also, Brandy's Cinderella.

Anyone else hearing rumors that the Muny CHESS may be the version that hits Broadway, not the Michael Mayer edition?

[quote]TV makes people live forever in a way that theatre and feature films no longer do.

I don't think that's quite right. Since the invention of home video through video cassette rentals and purchases, and later DVDs and Blu-Rays and of course streaming, I think everyone would agree that both TV shows and feature films make people live forever now more than they ever did before. There are so many variables from one TV show or movie to another, but again, I think we would all agree that the true classics, like I LOVE LUCY, THE HONEYMOONERS, THE WIZARD OF OZ, JAWS, etc., etc. are the ones that great true immortality (figuratively speaking).

Sorry, I meant "that grant true immortality (figuratively speaking)."

Most people know Bernadette from The Jerk or Cinderella

That is why Sondheim told Patti to her face that she wasn’t famous.

Even Betty Lynn had Eight is Enough

Patti had Life Goes On, r226.

That was MY show!

Michael Urie probably still has lots of recognizability from Ugly Betty.

R226, Bernie also did a ton of guest appearances on variety shows during the early 70s. I just saw her in the Burt Reynold's Longest Yard and she was very funny. When she got to Broadway again, she was already well known to TV and movie audiences. She also did those things at the right, early age and working with those people like Carol Burnett definitely helped her in all ways. She was really wonderful in Pennies from Heaven.

Ohmygawd.

We were discussing the untimely death of poor Broadway actor/singer Clifton Oliver earlier, although the thread is now gone. Now, I realize there are cultural differences about death between black people and white people, but Oliver's family has really crossed the line in my opinion.

I got a text from them as my number was in Clifton's phone, alerting me about the "homegoing" festivities. There will be a service, titled "The Encore- Clifton Lives in Us- A Red Carpet Affair" (*Please come dressed in your best all-white after 5 attire- Join us for this epic all white affair!). It looks like a nightclub flyer handbill. This is followed by an "after party" at a hotel where the tickets cost $50, and barely a week after the poor man's demise, they already have fucking MERCH for sale including t-shirts and hoodies with Clifton as Simba in "The Lion King" as the graphic! The link also alerts one to hotel package deals so I can come on down and spend some money...at a funeral!

I'd post the links, but it is all in such dreadfully bad taste, further mocking it feels dirty.

[quote]That is why Sondheim told Patti to her face that she wasn’t famous.

He told her she wasn't a drawing name outside of the Broadway crowd. I'd say Bernie is in the same boat.

I guess he would know, huh? Sondheim had precisely the same level of fame as Patti did.

r233 Actually, yeah he'd agree with you. His whole point in that interview was how the drawing element of musicals went from being the writers/composers to being Broadway names to being celebrities.

[quote]I can come on down and spend some money...at a funeral!

I could just kick myself for not thinking of that.

The delusion about which generation remembers X for doing Y is hilarious…keep me entertained. More!

Jack Wild? What’s that weird musical—Ollie or sometin’?

He was dreamy on HR Puf’n’stuff

[quote]The after party is Lion King themed!

One can only dread the constant playing of "Circle of Life."

Yes, r238, and I left out that the after party has an "Africa-themed" dress code!

I'm horrified by this crap.

[quote]Yes, [R238], and I left out that the after party has an "Africa-themed" dress code!

I'm dressing like Joan.

The real Tom Jones died.

Awwww.

[quote]I'm dressing like Joan.

I'm changing my major to Joan.

Truthfully nobody famous ever did Sondheim until the newest revivals of Jake Gyllenhaal and Josh Groban. But from the 70s-90s no matter how brilliant he was, the super famous never touched him in the theatre.

Outside of the theatre is different with Streisand, Sinatra and Judy Collins recorded him and Elizabeth Taylor, Johnny Depp and Meryl Streep doing film adaptations.

Gyllenhaal and Groban? Hold my beer. You must be very young, so I'll forgive you.

Ah yes…sorry R245 I did forget Lansbury.

Because, r244, he wrote for characters, not stars.

These are Bway's Brightest Lights?

Umm... okay.

R245 Lansbury was not "super famous" yet. She was at the level of fame of someone like F. Murray Abraham--well known and respected, but no tickets get sold on the basis of that person's name alone.

Does the reception to THE SHARK IS BROKEN bode well for the musical about the making of JAWS?

Proof that R249 is right -- a year before SWEENEY TODD, when Miss Lansbury did a 2-week stint in THE KING AND I, the box office dropped precipitously. She'd been booked to give the show "star power" while Yul Brynner was on vacation, but no dice. (A shame, according to the few that saw her; Ethan Mordden called it a "matchless, moving performance," IIRC.)

[quote]Truthfully nobody famous ever did Sondheim until the newest revivals of Jake Gyllenhaal and Josh Groban.

Yeah, because the famous were busy doing Jerry Herman and Kander & Ebb.

After Sweeney Angela tried the revival of Mame and it was a huge mistake.

R251…so people were waiting for Yul’s return and somehow that’s Lansbury’s fault ?

Blame it on Michael Kermoyan.

Blame it on Constance Towers!

[quote] the reason someone like Sutton Foster will be spoken of more frequently than Lansbury is because most if not all of her stage work exists on tape

That is a reason why she will NOT be spoken of. It is clear from the tapes that she has technical proficiency but is about as exciting as a packet of frozen peas.

Constance Towers fucked everything up!

Nobody touched my performance!

I'm sorry, but only a fool would compare Angela Lansbury's career pre-Sweeney Todd to that of F. Murray Abraham's. And, certainly, there is no comparison between her fame and Jake Gyllenhaal's.

Oooh. I love Angie.... but brunette was not her friend. It really brings out the dreaded "puppetface."

Angela speaks about Sondheim. She's a five time Tony winner, BTW.

[quote]Lansbury was not "super famous" yet. She was at the level of fame of someone like F. Murray Abraham

Oh that’s not true at all. Lansbury was an accomplished film character actress with 20 years behind her when her theatre career kicked into high gear. She created a sensation in MAME, and her picture was everywhere. Life Magazine did a feature on her. Her next two choices were poor (Dear World and Prettybelle), but she toured the country and was a sensation all over again with Gypsy. She was in the hit film “Death on the Nile,” then it was time for Sweeney Todd & Mrs. Lovett. She was quite famous internationally. If course, her fame level increased dramatically with Murder She Wrote.

R262, and despite all that, she flopped with the Mame revival after Sweeney.

Funny how Carol Channing toured successfully in Dolly for years yet a Mame revival with Lansbury flopped. Is Dolly just a more popular musical?

Many people, including Lansbury herself, very vocally blamed the failure of the MAME revival on poor producing (by Mitch Leigh) and marketing, and I think they were right about that. Even before MURDER SHE WROTE, there should have been lots of people who would have wanted to see Lansbury in MAME at a point when she could still do it in pretty much top form.

There were only about five years difference between the revival Lansbury Mame and Lucy's Mame (guess who was older). But Lansbury had to do this onstage and some reports were that she looked like she was going to die of exhaustion at curtain.

The other problem with the MAME revival is that it opened in JULY!

The MAME revival was doomed by poor choices. Angie wasn't one of them.

R262, nothing you say indicates that she was "super famous." Like many "best supporting" oscar winners and many broadway stars, she is famous enough to be recognized but not famous enough to create a scene if she got recognized at Bloomingdales.

He name could attract investors without necessarily attracting ticket buyers.

Josh Groban sold tickets on his name alone. Angela Lansbury pre-Murder She Wrote gave credibility and attracted media attention.

Yes—100 years from now the DL will be fawning over the memory of the legendary Groban while asking Angela who??!

[quote]The other problem with the MAME revival is that it opened in JULY!

Yes, another example of bad producing by Mitch Leigh.

I think people arguing about Lansbury vs. Grobin/Foster should put their ages in their replies. It does and will make a difference.

I don't care. What a silly hill to die on.

I just had a look at Mitch Leigh's Wikipedia page—what a parade of flops he had after Man of La Mancha!

And yes, to answer a previous question—DOLLY is a much better musical than MAME. Time has proven it so, which is why a revival of MAME will probably never be successful.

[quote]which is why a revival of MAME will probably never be successful

That, and all of the Dixie stuff.

I've always been a huge Lansbury fan and saw her live numerous times on Broadway.....but....even she would admit (in a great interview with Rex Reed after her original Mame success) that her film career was really floundering in the early 60s and she was reduced, even after her stupendous Oscar nominated turn in The Manchurian Candidate, to playing everyone's onscreen mother including the lowest point, Elvis Presley's mom in Blue Hawaii.

It really was to Jerry Herman's credit that he saw something there that apparently none of the Mame producers did, at least at first. In any case, when she opened in Mame she was by no means a guaranteed box office draw. Until the rave reviews poured in.

Source material, r275. You're more likely to get a company doing The Matchmaker over Auntie Mame.

[quote]she was by no means a guaranteed box office draw

Neither were the other contenders, r277. They just had more Broadway musicals under their belts.

Though I far prefer The Matchmaker over Auntie Mame, it must be said that the former only requires 4 sets to the latter's 20+ as well as 1/4 the number of actors.

Yes, there's that, r280. But there's also the fact that Dolly Levis is a whole lot easier to cast than Mame Dennis.

Are you talking about the musical versions or the plays? If it's the plays, I think the roles are equally easy/difficult to cast., r281.

Mame is a triple threat role, Dolly isn't.

R270, no they will not because Groban is not that good.

I think you missed the point.

(Or maybe you do get the point, realize you are wrong and shifted to an entirely different issue to save face.)

The idea that Lansbury sold tickets at that time is not borne out by the record. Dear World, Prettybelle, and The King and I all demonstrate that Lansbury's name alone was not enough to sell tickets.

Whose name *alone* sells tickets to a subpar show, r284?

Hugh Jackman and...?

Well, R286, if the past season is to go bay, Lea Michele.

excuse me- by

Would she have been as successful had she opened it, r286? Will people flock to the next *Lea Michele* show?

R285, There are very few performers whose name alone will sell tickets on Broadway. Hugh Jackman, Bette Midler, Josh Groban, and going back, Madonna, Andrews, Merman, Taylor, the Lunts.

Lansbury DID become someone whose name sold tickets, but that was not till after Murder She Wrote.

It really is an extremely small group. Even Mary Martin was not part of it. In recent times, Jackman and Lansbury were the only two on the list who worked regularly in theater.

[quote]There are very few performers whose name alone will sell tickets on Broadway. Hugh Jackman, Bette Midler, Josh Groban, and going back, Madonna, Andrews, Merman, Taylor, the Lunts.

Forgetting someone?

I also think Sweeney was a very singular show but I also don't think it necessarily sold tickets because it was Angela Lansbury. Weirdly, Mame would have likely have been a hit with whomever it starred but Lansbury gave it a little extra push at the beginning.

Since MSW ended in 96, I don't even know if that did anything for her Box Office name on Broadway because it was certainly not proven with her subsequent shows.

I disagree, r289. None of those could keep a turkey(subpar) open. Hugh had Oz and Music Man.

[quote]Weirdly, Mame would have likely have been a hit with whomever it starred

I don't know why you would think so, r291. Angela made an absolute splash. You really think the same would have happened with Delores, Nanette or Kaye?

At the beginning of the Sweeney run, I also think they had a lot of lower priced tickets for students because the producers found out that it had a great deal of appeal to younger audiences. I don't know how much of a financial hit Sweeney was since it only ran 557 performances.

Mame ran for quite a while on Broadway and on tour with a bunch of old bags playing the role, so yes, it likely would have been a hit with whatever leading lady it featured.

I disagree, r295.

How about me? My show got sucky reviews but we’re a smash.

Whenever two of you queens, get into a tiny-cock pissing contest, the rest of us want to kill ourselves. (One of you will, no doubt, nowreply with, who is stopping you?). 🥱

MAME would probably have succeeded without Lansbury, but as someone who saw the original, her performance was sui generis, unmatched then and now. A big part of the thrill of the show—and it was a huge thrill—was discovering that this theretofore excellent actress was far more than that when she took to dominate the stage. She was the right person at the right time, and her performance remains one of the greatest I witnessed.

R289. Oh, I think Martin’s name was bankable after ONE TOUCH OF VENUS, and certainly after SOUTH PACIFIC. The flops of Jennie and DO TURN SOMERSAULTS came later and were attributed to the quality of the material rather than to Martin. Even she and Halliday saw what a stinker JENNIE was and only went to Broadway with it on threat of lawsuit. I DO I DO was a hit and she and Preston were a delight (even if you can hear their struggles with upper range). LEGENS was an unfair late-career voice and I can’t imagine she and Channing were a good match (and Martin was clearly beginning to have some cognitive decline). It would have been interesting to see her as Stage Manager in GROVER’S CORNERS—it was not a tough sing, I saw it in Chicago with the composer Tom Jones in the role. But by then, I’m sure her health was too precarious. It was unmemorable score (and I like a lot of Jones and Schmidt), so she didn’t miss much. Her acting of Emily in a scene from OUR TOWN in an excerpt on TV in the fifties (the Ford special?) was moving and you believed her as the child bride now dead in childbirth. Maybe Kazan wasn’t so off considering her for Blance in Streetcar.

R300, I think Martin was a strong actress who could have played Blanche well. However, when you read letters and diaries of people at the time, you get the impression that in life she was a bit full of shit which may have made people underestimate her acting. Added to it that with her weird marriage, her husband would be over-engaged in any of her projects, you can see why she did not get the opportunities to show her strong acting.

Mary Martin was an excellent comedic and musical comedy actress when she wasn't trying too hard to be adorable or to "ACT" with capital letters, which it seems happened fairly often with her. I think she would have been awful as Blanche in STREETCAR for those reasons, but also, it's very important to the plot that Blanche be a great beauty (even if her beauty is just beginning to fade), and that could never be said of Martin.

To be fair, Mary Martin looked 50 even when she was 20-something. Elaine Stritch had the same disease

R303 as did Lansbury, Verdon, Merman, Rivera, etc.

My PBS station has a new! Broadway special on right now... Broadway's Brightest Lights. I think it going to be the big, "see how diverse we are!" program.

Fifteen minutes in an I'm already underwhelmed... maybe this post should be in that thread? And my, the orchestra's small.

[quote]but also, it's very important to the plot that Blanche be a great beauty

Uta Hagen anybody?

R292, THE BOY FROM OZ isn't nearly surefire material like THE MUSIC MAN. In fact, when they gave Hugh Jackman a week off halfway through the run, they didn't bother selling tickets for those performances -- the show simply went dark.

Try as we might, we couldn't find our Benko!

That was my point, r307.

Hugh was the only one I could think of that could sell a middling show like Oz or that misguided Music Man.

When did Uta Hagen play Blanche DuBois? (Was Jessica Tandy a great beauty?)

I just went to Google and answered (part of) my own question. Learned that Hagen replaced Tandy and did the tour. Had no clue that Brando's replacement was Anthony Quinn. But what about Tandy?

Blanche has been played by plenty of non-classic beauties.

I most certainly WAS a classic beauty!

No way Martin would have consented to do STREETCAR. She had a prudish streak a mile wide, especially as she got older. And who could conceive of anyone raping Annie Oakley or Nellie Forbush?

[quote]What I loved about Uta [Hagen] was her refusal to recede from a challenge, no matter where it might arise. Uta would decimate a play that wasn't working, a fellow player who wasn't rising to her standards, or a chair that didn't feel right for her character's backside. Her energy in the pursuit of a character was Olympian and exhausting--for everyone. Even if she was not always right in the execution of a role--and she was not right in certain scenes as Blanche--she was always right in the fights she chose, and she was always right about her own faults. I say she wasn't right in certain scenes as Blanche--and she wasn't--but where she was right, where she was true, she was extraordinary and heartrending. At the conclusion of her evening as Blanche, after the rape and as the purveyors of mental health begin to carry her away, she let us all know that the performance of that character was over, the muscles went slack, the body limp. Only as she was being escorted out did you see a new step, a new posture, a new smile: A new performance had begun, and I think everyone--myself included--wanted the play to continue so we could see where she went with it.

Why is Roger Bart doing taxi Christopher Lloyd instead of back to the future Christopher Lloyd?

Uta had a face full of drama. But no oil painting she.

Little Mary.

I used to have one of Mary's Paramount costumes and she was tiny.

Feelin' all girly!

R314. I think the prudish side of Martin developed around the time she did The Sound of Music and came under the sway f Rosary College theatre Professor Sister Gregory Duffy (in the suburb next to the one I grew up). I think it was probably Duffy who disapproved of the lyric in Jennie that was something about using “the salt still in my shaker.” Very contradictory as Martin not only was known by many in the business to be a lesbian (technically bisexual, but her great romances appear to have been with women like Jean Arthur and, more long term, Janet Gaynor) and also to have put for movie parts n her fairly unsuccessful attempt at Hollywood in the late 30s/early 40s. But she hardly be the first actress to try to erase a spotty past by adopting the role of living wife and mother (see Loretta Young). I wonder if we will ever get the unvarnished truth (whatever it is)—the recent bio glossed over the issue, perhaps to get the cooperation of her daughter and grandchildren. At her best, she had more humanity than Merman as a performer, a warmth (though obviously not the clarion voice). Her Blanche would have been interesting, if Kazan had been able to get her both to use her performative persona as well as whatever darkness or shadow she possessed. I’m not sure she would have been willing or able to. She did play Billie in Born Yesterday and Sabina in Skin of Our Teeth, so she must have had done sex appeal. Certainly no great beauty, but neither were Tandy nor Hagen (nor plenty of other Blanches). What she needed was charm and Martin had that. And Blanche’s form was fading, which she desperately knew. Maybe Martin could connect with that. Emile us drawn to Nellie because of her personality, not because she’s the prettiest nu se in the island.

'39

Didn't Tennessee want Lillian Gish to play Blanche?

Get a room, you two

[Quote] I used to have one of Mary's Paramount costumes

Just leaving this right here.

[quote]And who could conceive of anyone raping Annie Oakley or Nellie Forbush?

Did Lorna Luft ever play those roles?

I'm one of Mary Martin's biggest fans but even I cringe at the idea of her playing Blanche. MM's whole persona was built on spunk. She could not muster the requisite vulnerability. Ultimately, Blanche is not a survivor.

Something to contemplate about Angela Lansbury:

I wonder had she won the Oscar for The Manchurian Candidate in 1963, if it would have kept her languishing in Hollywood a few more years waiting for the great character roles she felt she deserved and finally might achieve? Thus, making her uninterested in succeeding in musical theatre and Broadway and not putting herself out there for Mame? Just a thought.

Mary was also good with physical comedy.

That great skit at r329 makes it a little more reasonable why Ray Stark and Jule Styne thought Mary Martin could play Fanny Brice. I think her sense of comedy there is closer to Brice than anything Streisand ever did in Funny Girl. I mean, they went with the right girl in the end, of course.....

[quote]I did not care for SHARK IS BROKEN (except for the gratuitous speedo-ing). But to be fair, the Golden is tiny.

It's not the only thing.

Judging from that photo in R317, I would say that, while young Uta was not a raving beauty, she was a lot more attractive than Mary Martin at the same age.

I don't think most of the professional photos of young Martin give an accurate idea of her attractiveness or lack of same, as they make her look a lot prettier than she actually was, but the photo at R320 is more truthful than many of the others. To modify what I said above, I don't think Blanche necessarily has to be classically gorgeous, but she should not be plain, which is the perfect definition of Martin's face.

So much for the kindness of fucking strangers.

Peter Pan getting raped by Stanley? Call my agent and let Kazan know that I’m available!

Angela Lansbury turned down the role that would have won her a well deserved Oscar. Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. She didn't want to play another bitch villainess

R336. I know that’s the conventional wisdom, but I wonder. Ratched was similar to the villainous bitches Lansbury was famous for at that point and I think voters and audiences might have seen it as just another variation on the same. Fletcher, because she was relatively unknown, became a kind of screen on whom we could project our own terrors at the evil of the character’s banality. I always thought Isabel Adjani should have won—it was generally a weak category that year. Lansbury might have won if voters decided just to vote for whoever was paired with Nicholson

Never understood why Martin objected to that JENNIE lyric when the score included an entire song about a harem girl who complained that she wasn't getting enough dick.

Not to mention the lyrics of "My Heart Belongs to Daddy."

[quote]Gene Kelly, backing Mary up

Pics please.

Lansbury would not have made the impression Fletcher did in Cuckoo's Nest because you expect Ratched to be a villainess from the get go if she's a dowdy, older, matronly spinster. Fletcher was 40 when she shot the film, but easily looked younger and presented as an attractive, if buttoned up, younger woman who might possibly be turned by the offbeat charms of McMurphy. You think to yourself- she can't be THAT bad, she looks like one fuck would fix her right up. So when she does keep committing these atrocious power plays, all under the guise of that cool, pleasant exterior, it's much more shocking. Bancroft, who was also offered the role, wouldn't have worked, either, but for very different reasons.

That being said, 75 was such a weak year for lead actresses (that two of them, including Fletcher's, were legit supporting roles), that had Lansbury played it, she probably still would have won.

Mary always said she didn't understood those lyrics and that Sophie Tucker had to wise her up.

I still don't understand those lyrics.

Finn and haddie? Why is that funnny?

finnan haddie is smoked haddock. Fish. Cole was referring to eating her pussy. Not himself, of course.

Pussy is something Cole would never crawl for.

Closing notice tomorrow for A Beautiful Noise or Once Upon a One More Time? Or do you think they'll drag it out one more week?

[quote]finnan haddie is smoked haddock. Fish. Cole was referring to eating her pussy.

I'm pretty sure the caddy didn't have a pussy.

she invites “a boy some nite” to eat her fucking box.

Are there other dirty innuendos in the song besides the finn and haddie bit? I mean, is that it??

Read it for yourself and decide

I guess not, r350.

R350, that’s the “clean” version, not what Mary sang in the show.

For instance, it should be “the boys who maul refined ladies. But now I tell each young gazelle to go to hell … I mean hades.” instead of the “refined cuties” lyric.

Those lyrics are severely truncated. They exclude:

That my heart belongs to Daddy Cause my Daddy he treats me so well He treats it and treats it, And then he repeats it, Yes Daddy he treats it so well.

And:

Though other dames At football games May long for a strong undergraddy I never dream of making the team Cause my heart...

And:

So I want to warn you laddie, That I simply hate to be frank, That I can't be mean to Daddy, Cause my Da-da-da-daddy might spank. In matters artistic He's not modernistic So Da-da-da-Daddy might spank.

Pretty racy in 1938.

[quote] Are there other dirty innuendos in the song besides the finn and haddie bit?

Finnan haddie.

Two words.

A bootlegger friend just got back from London where he filmed Aspects of Love and a few others. Aspects is a real mess and I can understand what they're closing early. No longer opens and closes with Love Changes Everything which is now sung by Michael Ball as George mid Act 1. The gorgeous, earthy and seductive Rose is played by a lovely actress who is wound so tightly she gives off frigid vibes. It just doesn't work at all but I guess the show itself never really did.

[quote]Pretty racy in 1938.

Your problem, R353, is that you have a dirty mind.

Imagine, r355, when it was such a masterpiece before

Reading R315 made wonder something. Were ANY of James Grissom's quotes real? Or did he make them all up?

Some of his Williams quotes are clearly not Tennessee, but others seem like they might be.....

Does anyone know?

An in-depth look by Helen Shaw, r358

R357. As I said the show never worked but they seemed to work very hard to make it even worse.

R359-Helen has a vendetta against Grissom for some reason. A lot of what she writes is bullshit.

I really hope that the string of recent ALW mega-flops means that he is FINALLY over, at least as far as new shows are concerned. I think revivals of his older, better shows will continue regardless.

R315, most people already knew Grissom was a fake. You just had to read his "quotes" and if you had any familiarity with the writer, you knew he made them up.

I could well imagine that someone like Shaw who writes without making stuff up would be pissed off.

Her New Yorker piece was terrific.

[quote]As I said the show never worked but they seemed to work very hard to make it even worse.

Heeeey!

I resemble that remark!

[quote] Helen has a vendetta against Grissom for some reason. A lot of what she writes is bullshit.

Like what? Or is that you, James?

I'm hearing from reliable sources that regarding a tour of COMPANY, none of the creative team wanted to be involved and they've sold the rights to the production to a touring company. I don't know if that means it wouldn't be an Equity tour but it'll sure be cheap and shoddily produced.

Maybe I will shine as Joanne?

I declare this thread DECLASSIFIED.

R367. Well Jen you should be available by Labor Day

Max von Essen’s West Side Story:

[Quote] none of the creative team wanted to be involved

So is anyone going to direct it?

Forget Jennifer Simard. I'm seeing Joyce DeWitt as Joanne in the COMPANY tour.

Is Catherine Zeta-Jones available for Bobbi?

Britney Colman was already announced as the tour Bobbi. Their first stop is Oct 8 in Schenectady.

[quote]Their first stop is Oct 8 in Schenectady.

Beats Cremona.

[quote]Their first stop is Oct 8 in Schenectady.

Bobbi Adler for Matinee Joanne!

Beanie for Matinee Joanne!

This Peter Pan statue in Mary's hometown in Texas almost rivals the original Lucy statue.

R378. I'd hit it

Judy McLane as Joanne in the Company tour.

Robbie Fairchild's ex, Ashley Day, has married Adam Kaplan. They're having another ceremony in London on September 1st.

Is Robbie still a florist?

No, she’s Hungarian and of Royal blood!

I’m glad for Ashley…Robbie did him dirty and that breakup was messy

R384. What a shame

Robbie's found a new boyfriend to abuse. He's an Upper West sider now.

ATC is still being "fixed". Maybe that really does mean neutered.

Max Von Essen - wouldn't that be WET Side Story?

Max loves being Max.

[R328]: There’s a short interview with Lansbury on TCM, where she muses on not winning a Best Supporting Oscar for her very first film role, at just 17, in “Gaslight.” She states that, in retrospect, she was grateful she hadn’t won, because she’d seen other winners lose career momentum, waiting for that elusive better role.

Yet, she might not have won for “Cuckoos Nest,” because she might have been perceived as playing just another mean bitch. The curious aspect of the virtually unknown Louise Fletcher was how kind she seemed, while actually being the opposite. With Lansbury’s history, no one would ever have mistaken her for being kind.

Casting Angela Lansbury as Nurse Ratched may not have been as inspired as Louise Fletcher, but I think any actress who played the role competently would have won the Oscar that year. Who could have realistically defeated her? Isabelle Adjani gave the best performance, IMO, and swept the critics' prizes, but she was a 19-year-old with little name recognition in the States, speaking French in a film that received no other nominations outside of Best Actress, suggesting it was not widely seen or admired outside of her performance.

Carol Kane was terrific in Hester Street, but it was a micro-budgeted, self-distributed film and the nomination was the reward. I can't imagine Glenda Jackson winning a third Oscar in six years for Hedda, nor can I see a plurality of voters rallying behind Ann-Margret for Tommy.

Fletcher won, in part, because hers was the winning film overall; voters who loved Cuckoo's Nest endorsed it down the ballot. This would have benefited any actress who played the part.

I don't remember a soft side to Fletcher's Nurse Ratched, from that ridiculously anachronistic hairdo (Victory rolls, really?!) down to her hard-soled white oxfords.

[quote]from that ridiculously anachronistic hairdo (Victory rolls, really?!)

They purposely did that so it would look she had never changed her hairstyle. But it didn't make sense to me at the time because it was too early of a hairstyle for that to be the case.

Duh, r393. You're so observant.

I didn't see the play so I don't know which parts here aren't cast - or what "initial casting" means - but it looks like Thimothee isn't joining the French Republic as previously rumored. Or is there a male waif character still uncast?

Thank you, r394.

Why hasn't Disney brought *this* to Broadway?

I think the rumor was that Timotay might be doing John Patrick Shanley's new play at MTC next year.

I need to see Aria Shahghasemi fully shirtless.

I can't see Chalamet slumming it in theatre right now, he clearly wants to be a movie star.

I'm just breathing a sigh of relief that Betsy Aidem and Nancy Robinette are continuing on with the Harmon play as they were the best things in it. Very sorry for the great Rich Topol who seems to have been replaced by Anthony Edwards in what is really a thankless role.

[quote]Is Robbie still a florist?

He's a florist who occasionally dances as a side gig.

[quote]He's a florist who occasionally dances as a side gig.

I bet he does a mean Waltz of the Flowers.

He does have nice stems.

Nice pins!

gams

Does Robbie belong to the Broadway BDC?

Chalamet will spend November/December promoting Wonka if the strikes are settled by then. His Bob Dylan film has pushed shooting to March.

Broadway so white

I so miss the days of us gossiping about Robbie and Ashley, ah well. The future seemed so much brighter back then.

Lea will be squeezing in one last vacation this weekend so Julie Benko will be your fabulous Fanny.

Playwrights Say Financial Cushion From TV and Film Work Has Diminished: “The Rug Is Being Pulled Out”:

Also, RE: Gwen Verdon. She was never a great vocalist, but she became a star because she was a great dancer, had a powerful voice, and she could really *sell* a number. When she was in Chicago she had gotten that "granny warble" in her voice. Betty Lynn, Bernadette Peters, and Alice Ripley have a bad case of granny warble going on.

Alice has vocal damage.

Max Von Essen comes over as constantly excited and wearying.

and handsome as hell

What was weird about the Ashley/Robbie romance is that they were happy together on social media…it seemed…until they weren’t and then it was bad.

Does anyone know what really happened?

r413, you neglect to mention Charm. Verdon had it to burn.

R418 and vulnerability. Something many actresses are now reluctant to display. I’m looking at you, Laura Benanti in She Loves Me. Although that may have been the director’s fault.

I liked Benanti in Gypsy, but agree that she didn’t fare well in She Lives Me—and her truly attempt at coloratura didn’t help. Cook (at least in the recording) made Amalia both bright and vulnerable—and, God knows, had a better instrument than Benanti, but knew (or was directed) not to play it like Jeanette McDonald in Naughty Marietta.

I prefer Jeanette’s sister Audra.

Dear Lea,

Please go back to L.A. Come back to Broadway when you grow up and learn to be a professional. Like 8 shows a week just like an adult. This was all about your ego.

I have it on good authority that the Encores LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA will not be moving forward because Adam Guettel has promised a Broadway revival to Audra.

Do we think Jordan Roth is enjoying Wes Taylor's performance in Only Murders in the Building?

Do we think Jordan Roth even watches Only Murders In The Building?

He could be watching it as he gets his hair blown out and mascara applied.

Do we think Jordan Roth is enjoying Wes Taylor's performance in the bedroom?

I don’t see Wesley Taylor hooking up with Jordan Roth. Jordan is not Isaac Coke Powell

Just found out that Chris Peluso has died.

I saw him as Chris in [bold]Miss Saigon[/bold] and as Gaylord Ravenal in [bold]Show Boat[/bold] in the West End. Charismatic, talented and incredibly good-looking.

How very sad. RIP

I saw Chris as the understudy to Gerry Goffin in Beautiful. Cute guy, lots of stage presence, very sad circumstances - I think he had two young kids too.

r423

But is the ponderous and dark Days of Wine n Roses transferring? That would be financial suicide.

Heard from someone who. works at the Atlantic that it's a likely transfer..

Did Adam Guettel even comment on/ promote the Encores LITP? I don’t recall hearing anything of what he thought.

Adam is saving his promotion for the future Audra LITP.

I still can't believe Wesley Taylor got a role on a TV show he didn't write himself.

Never heard of Chris Peluso, but that's sad to hear. He seemed like a nice man. And in the picture at R429 he reminds me of Nick Stahl, one of my '90s teen crushes.

Is talkinbroadway completely gone?

Wondering the same thing myself.

Was just watching Fosse's numbers from Damn Yankees on Youtube. Shoeless Joe for such a big number isn't very good. Most are terrific. But I'd like to know who came up with brilliant bit of Joe easily tightening his belt in disbelief when he's turned into a young man. It probably wasn't done on stage.

Ann over at ATC must be kicking the great grandkids over this debacle.

There was so much outrage over at ATC last week when some posters discovered that the font on the website had changed, I can't imagine this won't send some of them over the edge. Poor dramedy, how will he get through the day when he can't post some inane musing about the nut every hour?

[quote]We're doing a major software update and there is only admin access at

[quote]this point (that's the login it's asking for).

[quote]Unfortunately, it started before I had a chance to put up a notice to

[quote]inform visitors.

[quote]Hopefully, the update will be completed soon. Sorry for the

[quote]inconvenience.

[quote]Ann

[quote] Starting September 6th, A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical is going to have FOUR matinees per week. Yep, 50% of our performances will be matinees. We’ve got Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday . . . and THURSDAY at 2 as well. We will be the only Broadway show with Thursday matinees. Until Harmony opens, that is. Because Harmony starts Thursday matinees on Thursday, November 30, 2023. And then there will be two.

Ken Davenport is adding matinees to Neil Diamon show

And Audra's spouse doesn't do Wednesday nights. Will that soon include Thursday matinees as well?

Audra's cravings for a part time schedule is spreading to her husband?

I thought it was because Audra Ann’s ulcerative colitis usually kicked in on Wednesday nights

THIS DAY IN BROADWAY HISTORY: In 1981, a revival of "My Fair Lady" opened at the Uris Theatre.

R447. Lovely but dull revival. But I did love Christine Andreas as Eliza.

Christine was '76, r448.

R449. Oh dear. Apologies. Everything before 2000 gets confusing. The '81 revival was even more boring. Rex just walked through it.

I was supposed to do that '81 revival.

Obviously you *weren't*, r451.

Why did Nancy Ringham replace Cheryl Kennedy in previews?

Nancy swallowed

I’m no audiophile but the newly remastered Sweeney and Woods sound great to me. Clarity, separation and presence. I hear instruments and details I’ve never noticed

[quote]I thought it was because Audra Ann’s ulcerative colitis usually kicked in on Wednesday nights

Is it Chipotle night?

And a few extra lines of dialogue

Both of those MFL revivals were disappointingly dull because they used all of the original Cecil Beaton designs and Hanya Holm choreography yet none of it wore well. The painted muslin flats and drops and the separate singing and dancing choruses were beyond quaint. It all looked tired.

And Rex in the latter revival at 70-something didn't help, even with Cathleen Nesbitt recreating her role as Mrs. Higgins, the only actress alive old enough to play his mum.

Where can I find the new remastered Sondheim releases? I've looked on Apple Music, but it's not clear if the albums listed are any different to those which might have previously been available. I can't find any specifically new 2023 remastered versions. Are the new ones the ones that have a 'Lossless' icon? I'm in the UK, if that makes a difference.

My hearing is... not as great as it was. And I just want to be sure I'm listening to the right ones.

[quote] I’m no audiophile but the newly remastered Sweeney and Woods sound great to me. Clarity, separation and presence. I hear instruments and details I’ve never noticed

They are really interesting, and generally are a big improvement. The Woods album, even in its previous remaster, always sounded muffled and distant. Now there's no reason to listen to any other recording of that score. Sweeney has lots of new mixing throughout, which occasionally threw me for a loop, since that album is so familiar to me. There are more thrills and scares to be had listening to that new mix than in the entirety of the current production. Assassins and Company always sounded pretty great, so those recordings have less surprises, but are still a pleasure. Elaine Stritch's big flat note on "LOOOOOOVE" in the opening number is still with us.

[quote] Are the new ones the ones that have a 'Lossless' icon?

Yes, on Apple Music.

Cheryl Kennedy has vocal issues throughout the pre Broadway tour. Allegedly, Rex loved her and her acting outweighed her singing. She was replaced in Broadway previews. Her standby who was married to Milo O'Shea (Doolittle) was passed over as replacement in favor of Nancy who was dating one of the producers. Rex hated her.

Anyone know if the remastered Sondheim recordings will be released on CD? Yes, I’m old.

Can you imagine how unpleasant it must have been working with cantankerous Rex Harrison? Time to retell this funny story:

One night, after a stage performance of My Fair Lady, an elderly woman was standing alone in the rain outside the stage door and asked for Rex Harrison's autograph. Rex told her to "sod off", which so enraged the old woman she promptly rolled up her program and hit him with it. Fellow actor Stanley Holloway, who witnessed the scene, remarked that it was the first time "the fan has hit the shit!”

And no one laughed.

Cheryl kennedy

Here you go, r459

Cassie Levy is giving an incredible performance as Diana in Next to Normal, in previews in London. It feels guaranteed to transfer to the West End. Ben Platt, Noah Galvin, and Tom Kitt were in the audience when I went.

For me it's a 5 star production of a 3 star show though. It runs out of steam in act two. It's also such a relentlessly bleak trauma-dump of a show. Diana is supposed to be bipolar yet it's more a grab bag of various mental illnesses. Who forgets an entire baby they gave birth to who lived to be 8 months old after a few rounds of ECT? It's very much "mental illness as plot device" particularly in the second half.

Mental illness as a plot device. Who would have thought?

They should throw the Costco number back in.

Josh Groban was out of ST last night and, again, tonite.

Phyllis is done with doing...

[quote]This Peter Pan statue in Mary's hometown in Texas almost rivals the original Lucy statue.

I disagree. The face of that statue looks quite a lot like Mary's face looked in Peter Pan, although I would say that maybe the material of which the statue is made makes it look less attractive than if it were smooth marble, for example.

[quote]I think the rumor was that Timotay might be doing John Patrick Shanley's new play at MTC next year.

Yes, that was the rumor. I think Chalamet is too smart to go near PRAYER FOR THE FRENCH REPUBLIC, which IMHO was a talky, heavy-handed, incredibly boring play despite its critical reception, which to me is explainable only in that critics didn't want to say how bad it was because they didn't want to appear anti-Semitic.

Anyone see Groban's US? I hear he's quite impressive.

[quote]I’m no audiophile but the newly remastered Sweeney and Woods sound great to me. Clarity, separation and presence. I hear instruments and details I’ve never noticed

Do I understand correctly that the effects of the new remastering can only be heard properly through headphones? If so, can someone explain why this is the case and why they can't be heard properly through a surround sound speaker system?

The role Chalamet would have played in French Republic would hardly be worth his efforts. The women's roles are all better.

I thought it was established awhile ago that this rumor was quashed when it was established that Timmy was merely using some rehearsal space at MTC for his Bob Dylan film project. And someone mistakenly thought his presence there was because of participation in the Harmon play.

You hear things in a lot of detail through headphones, but it is also apparent when playing it through a surround sound speaker system. You will hear details in the orchestrations you may never have heard before. (Strangely, one moment I love in the Company orchestrations seemed to have been dialed back). Some of the sound effects on the Sweeney recording have been amped up - the chair effect, the oven doors, the whistle. Woods is the one that really sounds dramatically better. If you have both a Spotify and an Apple Music account, listen first to the Spotify version of ITW for a few seconds, and then the new version on Apple Music, and the difference is really apparent.

Holy crap, that clip at R466 is horrible. It's like something they would do on a Norman Lear sitcom when they'd have their annual "talent show" episodes and the cast would get to perform numbers. All that POS is missing is Adrienne Barbeau coming in from stage right doing her Mae West impersonation.

And I can see why Cheryl Kennedy was replaced. She can't sing and she can't even keep up with the orchestra.

All the shows’ orchestrators, and Joanna Gleason should be very grateful for this remastering.

Have we discussed, showqueens?

What do we think of the song?

Of Meryl?

The clip and song have been dissected on the Only Murders in the Building Season 3 thread, r481. As well as the graphic wallpapers in virtually every scene. Please join us over there.

Meryl can do no wrong in my book, r481.

It's no "Turning Turtle."

Pasek & Paul are "consulting producers" on this season of "Only Murders."

r481

That song is s-h-i-t-e

I always laugh at the moment in “We Do Not Belong Together” when Bernadette’s voice dramatically Moves On to the other side of my living room.

Just leaving this here (and tiptoeing away)...

[quote]You hear things in a lot of detail through headphones, but it is also apparent when playing it through a surround sound speaker system.

Thanks. Given the description of what they've done, I would have thought that, if anything, one could hear it best through surround speakers and not well or not at all through headphones.

Also, I'm always skeptical about remixing that obviously highlights one area of the orchestra over another or noticeably changes the balance between vocals and orchestra (for example), because if the remixers change those things radically enough to make them noticeable and just to be "different," I would think the result might often be very unnatural. One exception to that is what they did to bring out the trap drums far more prominently in "Another Hundred People" on the COMPANY album at the beginning of the repeat of "or they find each other in the crowded streets." I believe that was first done for the quadraphonic remaster and retained for the CD remaster, and I think it sounds great.

And TG's own Karen Ziemba's got a new gig.

You go, gurl.

[quote]Just leaving this here (and tiptoeing away)...

Peter Pan is being played by a young MAN instead of a woman? What will the SJWs say?

[quote] Also, I'm always skeptical about remixing that obviously highlights one area of the orchestra over another or noticeably changes the balance between vocals and orchestra (for example), because if the remixers change those things radically enough to make them noticeable and just to be "different," I would think the result might often be very unnatural.

This will get into gay minutiae, but I noticed that a couple of small brass moments are obscured in the remixes. One is during "What Would We Do Without You?" in Company. On "Reminds us of our birthdays...," the French horns have these upward swoops that could always be heard before and are now somewhat buried. In Into the Woods, toward the end of the Prologue, there is a trumpet fanfare under "As for Cinderella..." that is also now very faint. There are small changes when something you are so used to hearing goes missing. But still, I am really enjoying them.

This "Peter Pan" is worth seeing.

Josh Groban has COVID.

That tour of the new PETER PAN has put a casting call out for mermaids but anatomical proof of fins will be mandatory for an audition.

Thanks, R493. That's exactly the sort of thing I'm worried about.

R489 no, thanks. The Thanksgiving Play was insufferable. It was like the product of asking Jordan Peterson, Dennis Prager, and Ron Desantis to write a play about schools.

The Thanksgiving Play is indicative of all that is wrong with the American Theatre. It could be a case study.

You'd have to pay me to see "Prayers For The French Republic" again. The only people who won't be bored shitless by it are Jewish theatergoers, which was fine for MTC, not so much for Broadway. The present day family are obnoxious and so entitled. I wanted to slap Lynne Meadow on the way out of the theatre.

Peter Pan is the Charlap-Leigh musical? Fuck you, Playbill!

Re PETER PAN: You know when you see the words "revised" or "reimagined" that the work has been woke-ified.

Nobody wants that? Why do they insist?

You've got Amber Ruffin reimagining The Wiz to look forward to next year

Has Peter Pan never had a bookwriter credit? Has it always been A Musical Version of the Play by? That makes it sound like they just inserted songs but even if that were the case, someone had to do the cutting and decide where the songs go.

Also, does FastHorse have anything that's been as commercially successful as the works of Barrie, Charlap, Leigh, Styne, Comden, and Green?

r500, everyone has wanted to slap Lynne Meadow on the way out of MTC for years, not least of all her employees, so join the club.

The "Peter Pan" tour is non-Equity. Between that and the "well-intentioned" rewrites, it's sure to be a stinkeroo.

With Lonny Price directing you just know it’s going to be third-tier

[quote] You've got Amber Ruffin reimagining The Wiz to look forward to next year

Because she did such a great job with Some Like it Hot.

Ron Cephas Jones has died at the age of 66.

That's a loss. A wonderful actor--he was my favorite part of CLYDE'S--and from all accounts, a fine gentleman.

Worked with Ron, he was indeed a fine gentleman and so very talented. Amazing presence on stage whether playing kings or bums.

[quote]You'd have to pay me to see "Prayers For The French Republic" again. The only people who won't be bored shitless by it are Jewish theatergoers, which was fine for MTC, not so much for Broadway. The present day family are obnoxious and so entitled. I wanted to slap Lynne Meadow on the way out of the theatre.

I'm with you on this one, R500. To me, this was a prime example of an "Emperor's new clothes" play/production. That is, it did get some very good reviews, which can only be explained by the fact that the critics didn't want to pan a play with that subject matter (anti-Semitism), and then people who went to see it felt they had to say they liked it so as not to appear stupid and free of taste. But the truth is that PRAYER FOR THE FRENCH REPUBLIC was indeed boring as hell when it wasn't actively annoying. Maybe it's being brought to Broadway in hope of another LEOPOLDSTADT, but those involved may well be in for a very rude awakening, as I predict a huge flop.

Buttrio Square!

I think ...FRENCH REPUBLIC is only a limited run at MTC's Broadway house the Samuel Freidman Theater, packed with subscribers (hopefully), so a long run isn't really intended. And I've heard that Joshua Harmon has done some much needed and excellent rewrites on the play.

R513 I thought that “Burrito square” and I thought…that’s for me!

I thought LEOPOLDSTADT was a remarkable achievement onstage, and was glad to see it.

I sort of hate to ask: did it make any money? Return its investment? The house was heavily discounted when I saw it.

[quote]I thought that “Burrito square” and I thought…that’s for me!

#MeToo

Maybe this is posted somewhere but a friend told me Chita feel over while performing last night.

I feel over it a lot of the time.

[quote] I sort of hate to ask: did it make any money? Return its investment? The house was heavily discounted when I saw it.

[italic] I sort of hate to ask it/But did they fill their basket [/italic]

Anymore reports on Chita falling over ?

Can you all just forget about Bajour once and for all?

Never.

She feel over?

Feel over what?

Chita we love you please get up

Mark MacKillop is the sexiest man alive!

Mark is a needy, bitchy bottom who can't get a boyfriend or a fucking job.

I saw Chita feel over many times, but she still lifts her leg when I come. In.

Mizz Thang Mark got a thread on her shutdown. She wants all worship but no critique.

Who does she think she is, Claybourne Elder?

Does DL icon Brian Sims get a mention in Mark's show?

Damn! If ATC were up and running, they'd be all over the Chita feel......and fall. Has anyone checked the message board at Broadwayworld.com?

When I was a kid and my dad took me to see Chicago with Chita and Ute in Toronto, Chita seemed ancient and untalented then. She’s now 105, wrote a boring book with Patrick Pacheco, and is still playing the S.T.Ice Palace? Just find a nursing home.

And since Ute is literally 30 years younger than Chita, it makes no sense for Ute to play Velma to Chita's Roxie.

R534 hasn't figured out that CHICAGO is a stylized show that in no way relies on kitchen-sink realism.

Poor R533 was frightened by Chita as a child and has never gotten over the trauma.

Chita frightens everyone with that face of her.

R535 probably rails over non traditional casting. When 60+ yo Rivera announces she's pregnant, it's just another ridiculous moment of a too old leading lady doing the wrong part.

R538 I wouldn’t know!

Chita joins the Mitch McConnell/Diane Feinstein "Past Retirement Age Club."

If Rivera insists on doing shows, she should find ones like Madame Armfeldt where she could do the entire thing in a wheelchair. If she wants to actually die onstage, she's well on her way.

Lansbury took a brutal fall at the Sondheim tribute in the early 2000s at the Hollywood Bowl. It was one of the scariest things you can imagine and I think she was younger than Chits when it happened.

LEAVE CHITA ALONE!!!

One has to admire Mary Martin for keeping that hideous nose.

Remember, Chits has pins in her leg from that cab accident back in the 80s. She needs to be careful. And, movement-wise, The Visit was a good fit.

I'm still an EGOT

R541, Angela required surgery from that fall.

Elder gays will recall . . .

[quote]I think ...FRENCH REPUBLIC is only a limited run at MTC's Broadway house the Samuel Freidman Theater, packed with subscribers (hopefully), so a long run isn't really intended. And I've heard that Joshua Harmon has done some much needed and excellent rewrites on the play.

Good point, it is scheduled as a limited run, so there's also a limit to how badly it can flop. I certainly agree that major rewrites, not to mention huge cuts, are badly needed for this play, but I'm very surprised Harmon is doing so, considering how favorable the reviews were for the Off-Broadway production. But maybe he was forced to make cuts to keep the running time well under three hours, so as to avoid the huge costs of overtime on Broadway.

P.S., R548, I have to ask how could you possibly know that Harmon's rewrites of ....FRENCH REPUBLIC are "excellent?" Are you THAT much of an insider?

Bing was a drunk. I'm sure he took a lot of falls.

[quote]If Rivera insists on doing shows, she should find ones like Madame Armfeldt where she could do the entire thing in a wheelchair. If she wants to actually die onstage, she's well on her way.

Why was I not told about this possibility?

R551, because Barbara, not only would they have had to build a special wheelchair for wide loads, it would have taken a household of servants to wheel you around.

Who names their kid Chita?

[quote] Why was I not told about this possibility?—Barbara Cook

Babs, you dementia-riddled old thing! You WERE told about it! I was going to direct you in a stage extravaganza where you would sit in a wheelchair and the chair would move all around the stage as you reminisced and sang. REMEMBER?

Hey if we live as long as they did chances are we will do no better. But we won't be doing it on stage. More like in Medicaid assisted living. And if you haven't been in a facility don't go unless you believe in early suicide.

[quote]Bing Crosby, the golden voiced crooner,with his beaming wife Kathy, leaves Peninsula Hospital in Millbrae, after being released on April 5 1977.

Der Bingle died six months after that photo was taken. For the elderly, it's often a very short hop from a bad fall to sad last days.

Why do you think Kathy is beaming?

Rehearsals start today for Old Friends in London with Bernadette and Lea. Anyone going?

Also tickets go on sale to general public for Patti LuPone’s new show at Carnegie hall. Anyone going to that?

I work for MTC on and off, r549, and hear things.

Lea, Ramin and Tovah were all out of FG this weekend. No one over there really gives a shit do they.

ATC is baaaaaaaaaaaaack!

THIS DAY IN BROADWAY HISTORY: In 1983, "La Cage aux Folles" opened at the Palace Theatre.

Just out of curiosity: has anyone been able to sign back onto ATC. It beeps asking for my password, which of course I never bothered to memorize, and offers no route to retrieve or resist.

Not nearly as important as Chita’s fall, of course.

563. Never mind—I see it’s back up—didn’t read previous postings.

R560

Probably but is it possible they wanted their understudies to be able to go on before it closed? I saw Sunset Boulevard the night before it closed and Alice ripley was out because she wanted her understudy to be able to go on so the understudy invited her friends and family so they could all see her which I actually thought was really nice

Chita Feels Over should definitely be somewhere in the next thread title. Just sayin’.

[quote]Lea, Ramin and Tovah were all out of FG this weekend. No one over there really gives a shit do they.

[quote]Is it possible they wanted their understudies to be able to go on before it closed?

If this was the reason, then OF COURSE the three stars should have taken off for separate performances, the the same one(s).

R565. Those understudies have been on multiple times during the run. Ripley missed the final weekend of SB because her brother (,I think) was getting married and she wanted to be there.

R567 here, I meant "the three stars should have taken off for separate performances, NOT the same one(s)." And yes, as R568 pointed out, I believe all the FUNNY GIRL understudies and standbys for Fanny, Nick, and Rosie Brice have already gone on multiple times.

Haven't you guys heard of a last hurrah?

Will Tovah flash her panties at the last performance?

Bye gurl

[quote]Rehearsals start today for Old Friends in London with Bernadette and Lea. Anyone going?

[quote]Also tickets go on sale to general public for Patti LuPone’s new show at Carnegie hall. Anyone going to that?

Mandy Patinkin is also going to be performing in London. Tickets are on sale now. Anyone going to that?

How do you think Funny Girl will do on tour. Melissa Manchester's "name" is a non starter but will fans nationwide be interested in the title or will the lack of a true star seriously limit its box office. Just judging from Broadway and Lea/Beanie, I think I'd opt for a flop. I think Jane Lynch has more name recognition than Manchester.

R573. Too bad they couldn’t swallow their pride and do a joint show.

If

Bernadette Peters

Mandy Patinkin

Patti LuPone

Nathan Lane

and

Betty Buckley

Did a Sondheim show together… it would sell.

The FG tour is playing mostly one week engagements and that might be a smart move. One week in Cleveland might sellout. One month in Chicago? Probably not.

The tour of GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY is also going out for a year early this fall. How the hell will they sell that show on the road? Are there that many Dylan fans left and do they love Broadway shows without him or stars in it? Or do these road houses have subscription audiences who will see whatever is offered?

r577 The "From North" troll bought out the entire run.

This is what I heard:

Chita Rivera did a 70 minute show in the grove. It was hot and humid. She did songs from her career, some more than once. Then she fell during Hot Money Rag and fell into the drum kit all the way down. When they helped her up, she said “let’s finish the number” and went into a state of shock and had to be lifted offstage. Her daughter looked shocked.

[quote]Then she fell during Hot Money Rag and fell into the drum kit all the way down.

She's too old to be putting in new numbers.

It's a typo. The number was Hot Money Hag

Its Hot Honey F*g. And I'm the dame who can prove it.

Chita Rivera is still performing? Isn't she like 90-something? I figured she was retired by now.

When I saw her in THE VISIT about a decade ago, she looked like she was on her last legs, literally.

Not Runny Hag

Lot Punny Drag

Shot Bunny Gag

Never too early to think about the title for the next thread.

I haven't seen anything about Chita's fall anywhere but here. Can anyone confirm anything? R579's second hand account sounds quite serious. You'd think it would have been reported somewhere.

Chris has been on shaky ground for a long time. Going back to A Dancer's Life, Chita was always flanked by other dancers so that she could be caught or steadied if necessary.

Chita has been on shaky ground, that is.

Her full name, btw, is Dolores Conchita Figueroa del Rivero Anderson.

Looks like Marlo Manners of All That Chat is a Datalounger. The following post appears to have been lifted directly from here:

[quote]Saturday night August 19th, Chita Rivera was performing onstage at the Ice Palace at Cherry Grove in a revue celebrating her 70 years onstage. Evidently, she was performing all her famous numbers - some more than once. Then there have been reports that she suffered a fall onstage.

[quote]While performing "The Hot Honey Rag" from Chicago she supposedly fell into the drum kit all the way down. I think maybe she fell off the front of the stage and into the pit??? The musicians lifted her up and initially Chita said "Let's finish the number" like the old trouper she is...

[quote]But then Chita went into shock and had to be lifted off the stage. The show ended. Evidently her daughter Lisa Mordente was there and was very alarmed. No reports elsewhere.

She married Tony Mordente from the original cast of WSS but personally I would have gone after Michael Callan. I wonder if had to sleep with both Bernstein and Robbins to get into the original cast. It was probably in his contract.

[quote] When I saw her in THE VISIT about a decade ago, she looked like she was on her last legs, literally.

LEG, dear. One of them was wooden.

[quote]She married Tony Mordente from the original cast of WSS

He was cast in the film, but she was passed over.

I wonder how that went down at home?

They were already married with a child by the time the film was made.

R590, And to lose the part to the cuntiest of cunts, Rita Moreno, made it even more painful.

That’s why I love Chita, not Rita

R592, if it were possible to rank Alessandrini's songs from funniest to least, "America/Chita-Rita" would be in the top five or ten.

"long as you stay on a matress!"

"I'll be doing the movie version of The Rink / I'll probably win another Oscar / You can present it"

Has Chita talked much about Janet Leigh?

I think Chita was busy with Bye Bye Birdie, on Broadway and then maybe on tour, at least during the casting and of rehearsals of WSS. I can remember her saying that she highly respected the film of WSS but not the film of Bye Bye Birdie. Of course, by the time the latter premiered, Janet Leigh wasn't very happy with it either.

Marlo Manners, aka Lady Barrington, if you're here on DL, can you please tell us the meanings of your monikers?

R595 Why not?

The movie was a smash hit.

Among the Top 10 grossers of 1963.

Annaleigh has COVID. Now's the time to see Lady Di play Lovett.

r597, Janet Leigh was not happy that her role was heavily cut and she, the purported leading lady of Bye Bye Birdie (she had 1st billing), was totally sidelined by Ann-Margret in a supporting role. I think it was why Chita was ultimately easy about letting go with any disappointment she may have initially had with the casting of BBB.

BAJOUR!