THEATRE GOSSIP #563: What Fresh Hell's Kitchen Is This Edition

Old thread

Good one, OP. For once.

Will Audra do eight shows a week at the Majestic? Or will Billy Porter be on for matinees?

I don't do matinees darling

Gypsy will not be all black. In fact Tulsa and Herbie will be white. Louise will be black and June bi-racial.

Ben Platt is playing Tulsa?

Might make more sense if Louise is the biracial one.

R2 so many errors in such a short para …Oy!

The talk Show listings for next week aren't yet complete, but The Outsiders is doing The Tonight Show on Monday and The Kelly Clarkson Show on Thursday. Alicia Keys is doing The Late Show on Monday and Ben Platt's doing Late Night with Seth Meyers on Monday.

Will Swenson for Herbie? Keep the show in the fam.

Oh, and Cole Escola's doing The Tonight Show on Wednesday. That same day, the cast of Stereophonic will be on CBS Mornings. On Friday, CBS Mornings has Sarah Paulson.

I'm thrilled to hear all this praise for Jessica Lange whose performance in Mother Play I raved about 2 threads ago. And I said she'd win that Tony 4 threads ago before I even saw her in the play.

You're still a bore, R12.

R12=Trisha Hawkins

Brooke Shields *IS* Mazeppa!

Keke Palmer rumored for Louise. Paul Giammatti rumored for Herbie.

I think the idea r7 is that Rose is trying to make June "pass". It is chilling and so interesting.

Has anyone been following Leslie Kritzer's Tony (Schmony) campaign ? It is quite fun! I hope she upsets them all and wins.

Jeremy Piven for Herbie. They’ll go out for sushi instead of Chinese

R18. I just saw her interview on NY1–in character and in full costume. She’s a crafty one!

Jessica Lange shines in “The Great Lillian Hall” on HBO/MAX.

Her character is based on Marian Seldes.

Yes—we know…from all of the reviews and feature articles.

Has Lange's new film gotten raves? That was my impression but the NY Times today, though not a pan, didn't seem very enthusiastic. Though it was that dreary Elizabeth Vincentelli reviewing it.

From the last thread:

[quote]Fellow DLers, Lange is giving a performance for the ages. What a privilege it was to witness that last night. And how fabulous it was to watch Lange originate a role. I saw MARY JANE this week too. Rachel McAdams is excellent, though I'm not sure that play needs to be in a Broadway house.

If you're going to question whether MARY JANE 'Needs to be in a Broadway house," why wouldn't you ask the same question about MOTHER PLAY?

Vikki Carr did a magnificent version of Losing My Mind.

I was almost going into "Follies" withdrawal! R25! Thank you!

Let's cast an all-gay, gender-reversed "Follies."

Sally - Nathan Lane

Phyllis - Howard McGilllin

Ben - Jane Lynch

Buddy - Lea DeLaria

More?

So many want to mock us for our folie á Follies, and yet it captures the very essence of DL theatre gossip.

No comment's about last night's "Great Performances" -- Rodgers and Hammerstein's 80th Anniversary Concert? I've only made it halfway through (I stopped after Julian Ovenden's "This Nearly Was Mine.")

comments, not comment's! (Sorry!)

It’s interesting that Patti LuPone has avoided Follies in her career. Bernadette Peters has played Sally, Donna Murphy has played Phyllis, Betty Buckley has played Carlotta.

At various stages of her career, LuPone could have easily played Sally, Hattie, Stella or Carlotta.

Is she just a wrong place, wrong time Sally?

There aren't any fishwives in Phoenix, R30.

Steve Carell out of both shows today. Michael Esper is out of Appropriate.

They're doing The Odd Couple in Upper Montclair.

r30, Miss McKechnie Has Played Sally, Phyllis, and Carlotta.

Patti could make a fabulous Hattie in a Broadway FOLLIES in the 2030s.

T32 and a tree fell in a forest…

R32 and a tree fell in a forest…

[quote]r25 Vikki Carr did a magnificent version of Losing My Mind.

Oh! DL’s favorite vocal analyst featured her last month!

[quote] r30 Is Patti just a wrong place, wrong time Sally?

i hold that she should do all the parts as a 1-woman show.

Just her, a mic stand, and some hats… stand back!

It must be HIM!

¡Vikki! ¡Lo siento!

No, ¡Vicki!

What do we know about Garrett Poladian from Titanique?

I hope this link goes through but FB just had an ad for a subscription to the LACLO which would have featured Debbie Reynolds as Rose in Gypsy.

Here, r44...

Patti as Sally? You're joking, right?

Daniel out of Merrily both shows today and tomorrow (scheduled absences). But Lindsey was in today! Esper was out of Appropriate for a week. Hope he's ok.

R46 not joking. I would have been thrilled to see this live!

Jessica Lange was incredible in Mother Play. Paulson is good, but her role doesn’t have the same breadth or depth or technical demands. I can’t imagine anyone giving the award to her over Lange, but it’s the Tonys and they often reward crap, so anything can happen.

Just watched the Rodgers and Hammerstein concert. It’s fine, very much a PBS pledge-drive show (call in for your DVDs, CDs and a tote bag!). My, Julian Ovenden is aging very well. Has he ever played Sweeney? I’d rather see him than his concert mate Aaron Tveit (who seemed rather dead behind the eyes).

[quote](call in for your DVDs, CDs and a tote bag!)

Thank you, r50, unfortunately I don't...tote.

Michael Esper had twins .

Patti is so wrong for Sally. She’s no doubt feel that and Stella are be beneath her, but she probably would’ve enjoyed Carlotta.

Didn't Leslie Kritzer get arrested for some embarrassing crime some years back?

Really, r52? I miss him in the show AND have my fantasies crushed in the same blow?

That’s Sarah Gettelfinger you are thinking of r54

Really r55. Not sure why he is out a week though.

Does Carlotta sing I'm Still Here?

[quote]Does Carlotta sing I'm Still Here?

What are you doing on this thread?

[quote]Does Carlotta sing I'm Still Here?

Are the Harmonia Gardens waiters happy to see Dolly Levi?

Home from seeing Mother Play. Jessica Lange at her best could not redeem this piece of junk. Not sure what possessed Paul Vogel into thinking she could write a mother-gay son story within a mile of reality. She wrote the lesbian daughter as a bad precursor to Mrs. Maisel’s agent—hat included! A pastiche of every disfunctional gay / straight family stereotype. There were no tears from the audience in the mezzanine, even when she laid it on thick.

Good luck with the Tonys…you’ll all need it.

*Paula

P..S. I stopped counting the evictions—instead, I rooted for the cockroaches! They were entertaining….

Yes, Michael Esper was out of “Appropriate” this afternoon, his understudy was fine — But it’s a bad play.

That has to be said again — it’s a bad, VERY BAD PLAY. Extremely contrived, each character a two-dimensional ‘type’ rather than a recognizable human being, each situation formulaic and over-determined. The whole thing is sitcom-y, and issues are raised only to become a punchline or get dismissed altogether.

Though Sarah Paulson plays her part conscientiously, her character is so one-note and repellent (as eventually most of the characters are) that I can’t imagine anyone rewarding her with a Tony for this. And playwright Jacobs-Jenkins has no consistency in the way he writes these characters — they are clueless, spoiled entitled white people for most of the play, but then there are mawkish pleadings for sympathy thrown in at the end. And what are we to make of the black-outs showing the house falling into decay in subsequent years? The legacy of slavery crumbling? Why should we think of that when the implications of a scrapbook full of photos of lynchings are never really acknowledged by any of the character let alone discussed?

I’ll admit that the audience seemed to enjoy it — why not, since it’s only one slim cut above the crap you can watch on network TV any day of the week, and it features two familiar TV stars (Corey Stoll gets two of the biggest laughs of the play in act II, then has a breakdown, hence his Tony nomination.) It’s shallow, it’s condescending, it’s muddled and confused about what it is about and who these people are. That it’s a hot ticket on Broadway now is depressing.

“Does Carlotta sing I'm Still Here?“

Is Sweeney Todd handy with a razor?

R61 = Holland Taylor

I wonder if a director other than Arthur Laurents had been lined up for that 1980 LA production of Gypsy with Debbie Reynolds. And wasn’t there a rumor that Carrie Fisher would play Louise?

More interesting there is Joanna Gleason in on a clear day

I noticed that as well, r68.

R67, it was said that Debbie wanted Carrie for Louise (which would have been amazing) but remember, this was right after Star Wars so she was a bigger star than Debbie and why would she do a CLO production for no money.

Carrie Fisher never really made any decent movies outside the Star Wars films, did she?

Carrie Fisher was in Hannah and Her Sisters and When Harry Met Sally.

[quote]Does Carlotta sing I'm Still Here?

Has Lindsay Mendez been missing performances of "Merrily We Roll Along"?

R64 AMEN. Completely agree.

I also thought Appropriate was shallow and facile, but I found Paulson’x final monologue on the stairs very moving and interesting. The idea - that we cling to our parents because they are the only people who knew us before life took a bite out of us - almost feels like the spine of the play. But we just don’t get enough information on who the father really was, nor is it convincing that Paulson ever was anything but bitter.

Jesse Green acknowledged in his review that he had trashed the play previously. I wonder if rewrites actually changed his mind, or it was just about casting talented stars.

And the teenager jerking off of the couch

I agree that monologue was meant to be the heart and message of the play, but it doesn’t really explain why Paulson’s character is so hateful and bitter from her first scene. Or why you are left with the feeling that none of these people will ever see each other again.

I think there’s a real question mark about the playwright. Is this really how he sees a complacent white America in 2011, which is the year the play it set in? And why 2011? Is it meant to be a satire and therefore should it have been directed more broadly as a farce like “Purlie Victorious”? Was he just trying to write a ‘family play’ in the mold of so many 20th Century plays by white playwrights that were for decades a staple of the theater?

This production is too inept to answer any of those questions, and I don’t think the answers are in the text. Jacobs-Jenkins must feel that way too or he wouldn’t have reworked his play at all. Unfortunately he still has a way to go to write a good play. He’s just written scenery-chewing parts tasty enough to attract famous TV actors, hence a hit play on Broadway.

Can someone please reveal what happens to the set at the end of APPROPRIATE that's supposed to be so phenomenal? Not knowing what it is, I wonder if it's something that the playwright has described or if it's the ingenuity of the set designer.

So many new plays in NY seem to end now with sort of coup de theatre that should not be credited to the playwright.

R77, I think it answers why she is bitter, but not convincingly, with Corey Stoll’s monologue about how she has changed because of the recent events. But then that doesn’t make sense with her monologue, where she says that her father was the only person who knew her. All the monologues in the world aren’t going to make us believe the opposite of what our eyes and ears are telling us about her.

I saw Mother Play the next night and wondered if Stoll and Paulson would have been better as the siblings in that.

Sure, R 78

WARNING SPOILER!!

We have been in a large entry hall/living room with a straight staircase of what is supposed to be a plantation house but really just looks like a Victorian-style upper middle class home, and not a particularly nice one (the set was done by the design collective Dot).

Throughtout the play between scenes we have gotten dramatic lighting and portentous musical sound effects that have no connection to the family drama.

Once the human action is concluded during the last minute of the play we get a series of blackouts showing the passage of time. The lighting suggests different times of the day and night passing, as a pile of debris on a table in a corner collapses, a window is broken by a vandal, a druggie has broken in and used is using the house as a drug den and party space, a chandelier falls down from the ceiling. Finally when the lights come up full we see a whole tree is growing in the middle of the living room as a realtor or functionary is going through the house writing notes and taking pictures.

All of that is fun and effective and maybe gives the end of the play more poignance than it deserves.

Do George & Martha have marital problems, R58?

Okay, here's the updated Broadway-and off Broadway-related talk show schedule for this week. NBC continues to try making Ben Platt happen. He's performing Monday on Today and Late Night with Seth Meyers (plus Monday on The Jennifer Hudson Show). The Late Show has Alicia Keys on Monday and a performance from Illinoise on Tuesday. The Tonight Show has The Outsiders on Monday. GMA3 has Lindsay Mendez on Monday and Juliana Canfield on Tuesday. Sarah Hyland is plugging Little Shop of Horrors Wednesday on Today. Also on Wednesday, CBS Mornings has composer Will Butler and the cast of Stereophonic and The Tonight Show has Cole Escola. The Outsiders is performing Thursday on The Kelly Clarkson Show. On Friday, CBS Mornings has Sarah Paulson and her Appropriate playwright, Branden Jacobs Jenkins. Also on Friday, GMA3 has Jocelyn Bioh, who wrote Jaja's African Hair Braiding.

Ben Platt is definitely trying to make Ben Platt happen. For a fascinating view into a disordered mind desperately seeking attention, read about his Midtown restaurant recommendations.

r83

[quote]Maybe I should regret keeping it on here and blowing up the spot

Yes Ben, because your recommendation on some random website is sure to make it an instant mega hit.

Also, "yummy", "delish", "inspo", good god what a cunt

The dramatic set changes in APPROPRIATE are written into the play which I just read yesterday. It’s actually the one part of the play that really made me want to see it in person after reading the stage directions.

The opening is an almost too-long amount of time with the darkened stage with the slow rise of the sound of cicadas, which is interesting as cicadas are coming back this summer.

R 85 You should go to see it, I’d be interested to know if it reads better than it plays in the current production.

R83 Seki is excellent sushi. But you want to eat at Seki Chelsea, which ismuch better than Ben’s location. The omakase at Chelsea is really top quality.

Appropriate was an obnoxious and self-righteous commentary on southern families being a bunch of racists (and he threw in some antisemitism too).

I am not as skilled as you all at referencing other plays but I know that over the years, I have seen the same subject manner handled more movingly and with more subtlety than a kid running around in a KKK hood and a photo album full of lynchings. It just felt very basic. But everyone I know (outside DL) loved it and the audience was roaring with laughter and gasping - so I guess I’m in the minority.

We know that wealthy white families in Arkansas had a history of horrible racism. We get it. I don’t need to see a bunch of people screaming at each other for 2.5 hours about it.

Agree that Paulson’s last monologue was the only part that stuck with me and I loved the house being trashed at the end (that was actually eerie and felt like an original idea).

But in terms of the writing - I wasn’t impressed.

I cannot imagine Corey Stoll playing the son in MOTHER PLAY. Carl is a flamboyant queen, obsessed with fashion and literature from childhood. At first, I thought Jim Parsons was just doing a version of his Sheldon schtick but as the play progressed I found him incredibly moving and very relatable.

I loves me some Corey Stoll but he's just not the right type. I've yet to see him play anything but taciturn and macho.

OTOH Sarah Paulson might be interesting in Celia's daughter role, tougher certainly, but I'm not sure she'd bring the poignancy and pathos Celia has in spades. Sarah is always very slick and actressy IMHO.

Yes I thought Celia was great. And I’m not usually a fan of hers.

Parsons was a bit over the top but I guess it’s hard not to be with that script. Him covered in facial lesions screaming he’s dying of AIDS was a bit much, but I still cried.

^ Carl’s “Philadelphia” moment in Mother Play is dreadful pandering…no one was moved in the part of the audience where I sat. I was yawning by that time

That Ben Platt/restaurants article reminds me of those features in the pages of old Playbills, in which current Broadway actors would recommend restaurants, where they were clearly given free meals, and would never partake (or could afford to partake) under normal circumstances.

Celia and Jim would have been much better as the Finch siblings…

Jim is too tall for that gesture, r93

One of the only pleasures I got from “Appropriate” was watching Corey Stoll’s big fat ass as he ascended the staircase a few times. That was more eloquent than any lines in the play.

As we're already dealing with spoilers: Does the Broadway Appropriate audience laugh when the child appears in the Klan hood?

I saw the London staging in 2019, and I thought the moment was absolutely shocking, although I think I had read beforehand that it happened. But what shocked me the most was the fact that the rest of the audience thought it was absolutely hilarious. It probably got the biggest laugh of the entire performance. I put it down to the fact it was an older mid-week matinee crowd in London, as for the life of me I couldn't find it amusing.

Is it supposed to be funny?

They all laughed, yes.

No, it is not intended to be funny.

Celia Keenan Bolger is helped in performances by looking like a mop that got stuck in a drain.

You can’t help but root for her.

Thanks, R97.

Fuck.

Yes audience laughed extremely hard when kid ran out in the hood when I saw it too.

Only time I laughed was when Corey Stoll asked the brother’s young girlfriend if she was “an Indian.”

If the director or writer didn’t want a laugh to happen, there are many ways to avoid it. The moment isn’t meant to be funny. But if the audience laughs, it says something. This has been happening in productions of Cabaret for over 50 years and Caroline or Change for 20.

I still haven't recovered from seeing Corey's naked ass just a few feet away from me in Plenty at The Public. Dreadful production but I'd give his ass five stars.

Like Jesse Green, I saw the original production of APPROPRIATE at Signature and didn't love it - but really liked it on Broadway. Go figure.

Then you’ll LOVE Mother Play R103. Go for it

I found the Corey Stoll character’s obtuseness and insensitivity in act II of “Appropriate” confusing. Nothing up to that time suggests he’s that tone deaf, he seems well-grounded in act I. And then he gets the two biggest laughs in the play by making fun of River, thinking she’s an Indian.

The biggest laughs until the kid comes down the stairs wearing the KKK hood. I do think it’s meant to be funny, since the helicopter mom (the play must have had a note saying “Jessica Hecht-type here” ) has been so gratingly protective of her kids in all the wrong ways that we want to see her meltdown.

And the audience loves it. This was when I thought, “Is he trying to be Neil Simon with this material? Is he that cynical and mechanical?”

I still wonder.

I loved it r64 .

Maybe I'm pedestrian trash but I think it is a wonderful play. Paulson was overrated though.

r78 I have a copy of the 2014 version of the play and it is described IN DETAIL by the playwright. It was not a set designer but it seems the house itself is a character and gets the last word.

The set designer's version on Broadway is basically taking every cue from the playwright's description.

So it’s an obvious bit of nonsense, which he failed to put into the actors’ lines. Sounds about right….

Helen Shaw of the New Yorker also liked APPROPRIATE, more than she did in the earlier version. I trust her.

I see in Wikipedia that when “Inappropriate” opened off-Broadway in 2014, Mike Faist played Rhys, the disaffected son. On balance would rather have seen him masturbate on stage . . .

The weird anti-Appropriate troll on here will be weeping in his mother's basement when it wins 2 Tonys. It's a great play, fine production.

Oh please r111. I’m one of the anti-appropriate “trolls” and I don’t care if it wins - I’ll be happy for Paulson. My friends all loved the play.

We are just some gays discussing theater on datalounge. It’s not that deep. You’re the one taking it to a place of mother’s basement.

Calm down.

Fun fact: Rhys was apparently masturbating to gay porn. It's definitely audible on stage, but I just checked the script and it explicitly (no pun intended) makes this detail clear.

No shit, Sherlock.

If they really wanted to please Datalounge, they would have Betty Buckley be Tuesday night Rose!

R115. Fuck that

She’s more a Herbie at this point.

It would please the stagehands.

. . .

Still amazed by the affection for MOTHER PLAY here. Lange pulled out every trick in her capacious bag, but I still found it a major slog.

Keep trolling, r119.

120 👍🏼

How many times do you intend to tell us how much you hated it, r120?

Sorry, R123 -- in truth, I posted so that this would show up in my threads I'm following. (I must have blocked the OP on a previous occasion.)

R64, APPROPRIATE is an audience favorite because many people love to watch members of an extended family yell at and insult each other. Why it's a critical favorite as well is harder to figure, because you would think more of the critics would have been able to see the play for what it is, and what it isn't. But there was a similar critical and audience reception for AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY, which was also overrated (though I would say it's a better play than this one).

[quote]Can someone please reveal what happens to the set at the end of APPROPRIATE that's supposed to be so phenomenal? Not knowing what it is, I wonder if it's something that the playwright has described or if it's the ingenuity of the set designer. So many new plays in NY seem to end now with sort of coup de theatre that should not be credited to the playwright.

I would highly doubt that any set designer -- or any director, for that matter -- would add to a play a coup de theatre that wasn't indicated in the script, at least to some extent. For example, SPOILER ALERT: What happens at the end of APPROPRIATE may have been indicated in the script by a stage direction as simple as "We see the house decaying and crumbling over a period of many years."

As we're already dealing with spoilers: Does the Broadway Appropriate audience laugh when the child appears in the Klan hood? I saw the London staging in 2019, and I thought the moment was absolutely shocking, although I think I had read beforehand that it happened. But what shocked me the most was the fact that the rest of the audience thought it was absolutely hilarious.

[quote]I would classify that as nervous laughter. I recently had a similar experience at an Off-Off-Broadway production of a very dramatic play. Sometimes, audience members respond to highly dramatic, shocking moments with nervous laughter because they're too immature to respond in any other way.

[quote]I see in Wikipedia that when “Inappropriate” opened off-Broadway in 2014, Mike Faist played Rhys, the disaffected son. On balance would rather have seen him masturbate on stage . . .

I saw the Off-Broadway production, and though I don't specifically remember the Mike Faist character masturbating, I certainly do remember that, for a few brief moments, Faist was completely naked onstage, displaying one of the cutest butts I've ever seen on OR off Broadway :-)

r126 I have a copy of the play from 2014 and it is two full pages of descriptions as to what happens to the house and it is detailed.

I thought Sarah’s character acted that way because she inherited a personality disorder or mental illness.

Agree the finale staging steals the show. I enjoyed the show but was a bit much when the Facebook pedophile plot took off.

I also laughed when Fanning’s character revealed to be rich child with blood relative attorneys.

[quote] Faist was completely naked onstage, displaying one of the cutest butts I've ever seen on OR off Broadway :-)

What about his dick? Was that cute, too? Or was it obscured through the usual evasive measures?

Why was the character naked? And why wasn't this genius directorial decision employed in the current production?

R 111, I’m one of the anti-APPROPRIATE “trolls” here and I’m not going to be crying in my beer if it wins a Tony or two (as long as STEREOPHONIC, which I loved, does well) but I’m curious what you think the two Tonys it’s going to win will be?

Sarah Paulson is one, obviously, and there is certainly a good chance of that.. Is the other Best Play Revival? I suppose it could. Though I much preferred ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE. But APPROPRIATE is staged traditionally while ENEMY uses members of the audience to fill out the Town Hall scene — too daring and “avant garde” for Tony voters?

Of course ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE also features two TV stars and is a hot ticket, but it’s a limited run where APPROPRIATE is open-ended, another thing in its favor. When Paulson and Stoll leave, who do we think will replace them? They’ll have to have comparable or even bigger names, won’t they, in order to keep ladling out this weak tea?

Started the New Yorker profile on Rachel Chavkin. The writer describes her as a 43 year old woman who is always wearing pigtails and combat boots, carrying a laptop with a sticker that says YOU ARE ON NATIVE LAND and consistently using the word “yummy.”

I’ve had sufficient based on that description alone.

R133, Appropriate has a 6/30 closing date.

Why do you suppose APPROPRIATE isn't interested in recasting and extending their run through next fall? I would imagine most of the cast would remain even if 3 or 4 of the stars left. Is it really that expensive for them to rehearse a few new actors? I would imagine they could attract some big names, at least some former TV stars as replacements. Re-costuming the new people certainly won't cost much.

Would APPROPRIATE have gotten the same raves had it been written by a white person?

Is APPROPRIATE a pun on appropriation?

I read the entire New Yorker article about Rachel Chavkin and I never thought the writer was trying to flatter her subject. While it's not highly critical, that profile, nevertheless, is not going to make any new Chavkin fans.

The entire play r137 is a riff on the various meanings of the word Appropriate. There is moment about cultural appropriation, appropriations (property) , appropriate discussions, appropriate relationships, TO appropriate something. Before the play begins the definitions are projected onto a scrim.

Don’t be too harsh on poor, dumb R137

And to answer your first question, R 137, I personally don’t think it would have, no. I think it’s why critics pulled their punches second time around.

R137, projected onto the scrim before the performance begins is a list of dictionary definitions for "appropriate," making it clear (to me) that one is meant to speculate whether the verb or the adjective is meant.

Yes R142 we know. Read the thread

[quote]I would highly doubt that any set designer -- or any director, for that matter -- would add to a play a coup de theatre that wasn't indicated in the script, at least to some extent.

Bless your heart.

I've seen sets that would upstage Carmen Miranda and a row of Busby Berkeley chorus girls, on plays like Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Have you missed all the gratuitous wandering about outside the theatre that passes for a coup de theatre nowadays? The Glass Cube Fixation? The Stage Full of Video Monitors trend?

Good for you if you have.

P.S. The ending of Appropriate, as described here, sounds trite to me. Unless it's meant to be a comment on Sarah Paulson's many performances AS a piece of wood.

Donna Murphy dropped out of the Follies concert and was replaced by Beth Leavel.

What a disappointment

R145, Beth Leavel is an outstanding performer.

No Rachel Bay Jones either. Her Sally would have been interesting. So with so many cast members, does each performer get half a song or less?

Pity.

Has anyone watched The Great Lillian Hall on HBO? I'm bringing it up not to talk about Lange (who was fine) but the fact that the story is loosely based on Marian Seldes and her slide into dementia. Seldes' niece wrote the screenplay.

They even used the device of the documentary that was made about Seldes, couching it in a, if not positive, very neutral light. And the daughter, who I have heard is a real nightmare, comes off very well in this. (And Lily Rabe is fantastic in the role, the real standout in the cast.) Also, Kathy Bates is terrible.

But I'm wondering what the motivation was for including the EPK people wanting to make a doc about her once they realize she's losing it. Is the family still trying to justify it or drum up new interest?

Devil Wears Prada found their Andy and Emily. Andy is very AnnE-ish.

I thought Lange was brilliant as Lillian Hall, and Kathy Bates was terrific. Agree that Lily Rabe was A standout, if not THE standout.

Is no-one going to answer r131?

Sad Marian story:

I was nominated for a Tony about a dozen years ago and went to the Tony luncheon, which as some of you may know, back then at least, was not attended by any press, which was lovely as it kind of put all the nominees on equal footing with no one getting more attention. Any way, Marian Seldes had been asked to speak and she began a lovely tribute to all of us but then apparently lost her way halfway through. As she didn't seem able to continue applause began to save face. But she attempted to begin again and again lost it. Finally, her dear friend Brian Murray who was seated to her side at the dais table, rose up and coaxed her to sit down. You could have heard a pin drop and I can't quite remember how the event quite got back on track. So tragic.

Also, a funnier story: At the beginning of the luncheon before we all took our seats, all of us nominees were asked to sit on rows of risers that had been set up to take a group shot (the only photo that was done at the event). After we all got seated, which took awhile with everyone scrambling for their best place, we were told to hold on because a late nominee was just arriving. Turned out to be Nina Arianda and I can tell you she didn't get many smiles from the other nominees as she took a front and center seat. Not surprised her career hasn't progressed very far since then.

I guess they allow press into that event now as I see lots of photos. Too bad as it was quite special just as it was. One wasn't even permitted to bring a date and there was assigned seating at the tables, encouraging everyone to talk to everyone

That Devil wears Prada clip was ghastly.

Poor Marian.

She deserved a far better ending.

R153 WTF were you nominated for?

[quote]r153 After we all got seated […] we were told to hold on because a late nominee was just arriving. Turned out to be Nina Arianda and I can tell you she didn't get many smiles from the other nominees as she took a front and center seat.

A little RESPECT! She played VIVIAN VANCE, for god’s sake!

I thought Lange was great, but the movie was a mountain of cliches.

I wonder why two major stars have dropped out of the FOLLIES concert on relatively short notice. My guess it has something to do with the putz who's putting the whole thing together.

So who is playing who in Follies? Alexandra Billings? Is she playing Dee Dee West?

[quote]I've seen sets that would upstage Carmen Miranda and a row of Busby Berkeley chorus girls, on plays like Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Have you missed all the gratuitous wandering about outside the theatre that passes for a coup de theatre nowadays? The Glass Cube Fixation? The Stage Full of Video Monitors trend?

I was referring to new plays. I don't think a director or set designer would add to a new play a coup de theatre that wasn't indicated in the script by the playwright.

[quote]What about his dick? Was that cute, too? Or was it obscured through the usual evasive measures?

The latter. Sorry for my delay in responding.

r157 Nina looks more like Gypsy Rose Lee than the Divine Miss V in that photo.

[quote]WTF were you nominated for?

Best Blowjob Given To a Crew Member.

The other nominees were Betty Buckley (winner), Helen Lawson, and John Travolta.

Martha Raye must have won that in the National Tour category.

Only when she removed those dentures! Da suk!

R153 great stories thank you

Glenn Close was notorious for her blowjobs during the waning days of Sunset Boulevard.

It’s sad Donna Murphy dropped out. I would have loved to have seen her could I leave you live

I don't really get why bigger names like Norbert Leo Butz, Donna Murphy and Rachel Bay Jones would sign on to a FOLLIES in which they had to share songs with lesser names. No wonder they walked

I don't know if they would necessarily be sharing songs, though they would be sharing roles in some cases.

Anyway, they presumably knew what they would be singing when they signed on initially, so that's probably not why they're dropping out

Donna may have a conflict with The Gilded Age.

Yes, sorry, I meant sharing roles, not songs. But I do wonder if when they initially agreed to participate they were promised certain numbers that began to change with more casting as the evening's agenda began developing. I assume they hadn't officially signed on.

The Gilded Age starts shooting Juky 6th so yeah, there might have been a conflict for Murphy.

SUFFS!

I’ve read other New Yorker pieces by Rachel Syme. She clearly cannot stand Chavkin. This profile is incredible.

[quote]I don't really get why bigger names like Norbert Leo Butz, Donna Murphy and Rachel Bay Jones would sign on to a FOLLIES in which they had to share songs with lesser names. No wonder they walked

Imagine the insult to the world-renowned Rachel Bay Jones that she would have to share the stage with inferiors such as Norm Lewis, Len Cariou, Christine Ebersole, and Jennifer Holliday.

How ‘Cabaret’ became Broadway’s hottest ticket — and most divisive show:

THIS DAY IN BROADWAY HISTORY: In 1940, "Walk With Music" opened at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre.

That article crystallized why Frecknall’s Cabaret just didn’t work for me. R178. Cabaret’s Emcee may be complicit and naive about the Nazis, but to suggest he would just blend in with them because he is blond makes for a very unsatisfying show. Especially since Fraulein Kost and Ernst are already doing that more convincingly.

Or that Sally goes full tilt fascist friendly because Cliff demands that she a wife and mother? Cliff as a patriarch is so ridiculous that Sally mocks it in her dialogue, plus Frecknall has him stop short of slapping her (as is written in the script).

Or that Redmaye is a pretty blond and would definitely turn evil?

Glad I got a cheaper ticket for this.

I hated this Cabaret. Every fucking second of it, from the surly theatre staff to the indifferently cast performers. It's a scam.

Rachel Syme simply must be the keynote speaker on passive aggression at the next pointless bitchery conference.

My Marion story - years ago I was on the M104 bus and Ms. Seldes got on around 50th/8th in a full acid wash outfit, including a page boy acid wash hat. She was amazing.

Marion was a huge bitch in Home Alone 3.

I never miss a Stepin Fetchit musical, r179.

[Quote] "Machine!" Chavkin called out.

This reminds me of the skits done by comedian Tim Murray on Instagram, where he performs as ridiculous LA gays who call out to their friends with even more ridiculous names.

'MacArthur Park! MacArthur Park! I think I see my friend MacArthur Park over there.'

[quote]'MacArthur Park! MacArthur Park! I think I see my friend MacArthur Park over there.'

Marion starred in the only play Anne Sexton ever wrote, and [italic]I want to hear about it!

"comedian"

Is Rachel Bay Jones going to be a regular on the new "Young Sheldon" spinoff? She plays the mother of one of the main characters.

FFS, Her name is Marian, not Marion.

Marion. Cunt.

Marian Seldes played Robin Strasser’s mother on “One Life to Live”.

R192

R194 Her students over the years included Robin Williams, Kevin Kline, Laura Linney, William Hurt, Kelsey Grammer, Christopher Reeve, Kevin Spacey, Patti LuPone, Viola Davis, Christine Baranski and Stephen McKinley Henderson.

I guess subtlety wasn’t her specialty.

R191: If everyone else was calling Marian Seldes Marion, would you do so, too?

R188: (defiantly) Yes!

Most of you should keep Marian's name out yo fucking mouths.

Did Marian ever visit Marion, NY?

Was it irksome?

r198...

I saw Marian in at least three plays (Three Tall Women, Play About the Baby, and Deuce). I thought she achieved the near-impossible: great subtlety while projecting vividly to the whole audience. She classed up every joint she was in.

So difficult to keep these things straight.

Oh god, WHY did HBO greenlight a documentary about Slave Play? And why did they allow Jeremy O'Harris to direct it?

Already the press is everywhere and we're gonna have to hear from this shithead for the next week.

Deadline's headline starts: "Tony Voters Embraced It."

But didn't the Tony voters famously *not* embrace it?

Tony NOMINATORS embraced it.

Will someone shut that man up?

It truly is bizarre how many execs have fallen for JOH's bullshit. His HBO deal even included a fund for him to invest in experimental theatre. How is he getting these idiots to fall for it? He's far too unattractive to be fucking anyone for it.

He really is hideous.

Here's the trailer! Puts Wicked to shame.

Walk With Music was written by Hoagey Carmichael and Johnny Mercer. There were several good songs, and the title tune is gorgeous.

IIRC, it’s from the same story which was used for How To Marry a Millionaire

Hell's kitchen, Outsiders, Merrily and Enemy sold out last week.

I was at Enemy of the People on Sunday afternoon. Though I believe it was indeed sold out, entire rows were empty.

[quote]Yes, sorry, I meant sharing roles, not songs. But I do wonder if when they initially agreed to participate they were promised certain numbers that began to change with more casting as the evening's agenda began developing. I assume they hadn't officially signed on.

I would say anything is possible, given the ineptitude of the man who is putting the whole thing together.

How funny that the SLAVE PLAY trailer uses the overture to LA FORZA DEL DESTINO as background music. I would say those two works of art are not quite equivalent in value.

[quote]If the Emcee is an eerie abstraction, Sally is the show’s beating heart.

If I have read "so-and-so is the show's beating heart" in one article or review, I've read it in a thousand. How about some originality, folks?

R214, my un-favorites are "so-and-so is a REVELATION" and "so-and-so gives a MASTER CLASS." Revealed what? How is a performance a master class in something? So dumb.

[quote]That article crystallized why Frecknall’s Cabaret just didn’t work for me. [R178]. Cabaret’s Emcee may be complicit and naive about the Nazis, but to suggest he would just blend in with them because he is blond makes for a very unsatisfying show.

[quote]Or that Redmaye is a pretty blond and would definitely turn evil?

He looks like a redhead to me at R178.

Then please substitute the director’s words from the article, which are “ cis, White, beautiful Aryan man”.

I don't think she knows what Aryan means.

[quote]If I have read "so-and-so is the show's beating heart" in one article or review, I've read it in a thousand.

Better than "so-and-so is the show's bilious gall bladder".

No mention of the death of original "Pajama Game" star Janis Paige at 101? She was the first Broadway replacement for Angela Lansbury in "Mame" and the star of "Here's Love," and she had a lot of TV and movie credits, including "Silk Stockings." Certainly one of the last links to the golden ages of both Broadway and Hollywood. On TV, she had almost affairs with Lou Grant and Archie Bunker.

Jan's DEAD to me thread...

Ugh, I’m just not feeling it. I think I’ll skip this evening’s performance. Should I skip? I think I’ll skip. As for disappointed gays who flew in to see me, well, bricks can fall out of clear blue skies. I don’t care! I don’t have to! The producers have given me no consequence! I’m Lindsay Mendez!!!!!

Seriously, I hope all of the Tony voters are well aware of what a huge number of performances Mendez has missed in unscheduled absences, and that they cast their votes for one of the other nominees in her category. If she does get the Tony, it wouldn't upset me quite as much as Trump getting re-elected, but I won't be happy about it, because I think the way her absences have been handled is very wrong.

[quote]If she does get the Tony, it wouldn't upset me quite as much as Trump getting re-elected, but I won't be happy about it

It's good that you're able to retain a sense of perspective in this matter.

R224, perhaps my sarcasm wasn't clear. But I do think it would be very wrong for someone who has missed SO many performances of a show, while she and the producers have been so closed-mouthed about it in a "the public be damned" way, to get a Tony in spite of all that. It will be just one more standard of professional behavior falling by the wayside.

When I hear Mary, I hear Ann Morrison. I just like her sound on those songs.

R222. Linds, so glad you were well enough to attend Anna Wintour's soiree for Tony nominees. Take a few shows off to recover.

r218 Or beautiful

Slave Play was one of the worst things I’ve ever seen.

How is there a documentary about it?????

r209, I don't know what you're talking about (did I miss a post?) but I'm very intrigued. Could you please elaborate on Walk With Music and How to Marry a Millionaire.

*

[quote]Slave Play was one of the worst things I’ve ever seen. How is there a documentary about it?????

Because I'm a genius.

It would be nice, on a theater gossip thread, if there were something to talk about other than Lindsey Mendez missing performances and contempt for Jeremy O. Harris. But that's what we seem to be stuck with.

[quote]Did Marian ever visit Marion, NY?

Did she ever play Marian the Librarian?

[quote]It would be nice, on a theater gossip thread, if there were something to talk about other than Lindsey Mendez missing performances and contempt for Jeremy O. Harris. But that's what we seem to be stuck with.

Well, there's always "Follies." Never much discussion about that show.

is golden girls a musical?

I worked with Marian on a small project years ago (backstage). Ran into her ten years later at a theatre, and to my astonishment a. she remembered me; b. she gave me the warmest "darling how ARE you?" imaginable, with an airkiss.

A lovely, lovely lady and a phenomenal actress. One of the greats.

[quote] Could you please elaborate on Walk With Music and How to Marry a Millionaire

They're both based on Stephen Powyss’ play Three Blind Mice, about three women who combine forces to live in a big apartment and hunt for men. Moon Over Miami is also based on it, but cuts it down to two women.

I agree r223

this is a pattern of behavior for her too. it is not because of pregnancy r225 . She did this in other shows as well. Her work ethic isn't really there.

How is The Heart of Rock and Roll still open?

[quote] I would never miss a Marian Seldes musical.

Marian Seldes had a featured role in "Annie 2," which most people missed because it folded in DC back in 1990.

That New Yorker piece w Groff reminds me why I haven’t dated an actor in 25 years. And Jon, talking about piss constantly makes it seem like you need more finishing at Miss Porter’s…

Time has got to be running out for The Heart of Rock and Roll, R241. I'm assuming it will close within the month. Of course, I also assumed A Beautiful Noise and Patriots would close early, but it seems those two are going to stick it out to the undignified end.

A Beautiful Noise will tour and probably be very successful.

R244: Even Lempicka did better than The Heart of Rock and Roll. A Beautiful Noise and Patriots are closing at the end of the month.

r238 "Moon Over Miami" is on TCM right now!

Have y'all seen that social media post in which Corey Cott attempts to sell tix to THE HEART OF ROCK AND ROLL by reading thirst tweets about how hot his body is -- accompanied by photos and video of that hot bod? Whatever works, I guess. But it seems not to be working. Which is sad, because I thought the show was highly entertaining over and above his torso.

MOON

OVER

MIAMI

In what universe can SLAVE PLAY claim it was a "hit" play. The original run closed early. Investors lost all their money. It lost the Tony. But because they drank all their own kool-aid, they planned a return because they assumed they would win the Tony. So it lumbered back for 10 weeks and lost even more money. How is this a hit play?

And by the way, the show's final scene with the rape play was horrifying.

R235, talk about me! PLEASE?

All I remember about slave play is desperately wanting it to be over.

R227, there were cameras there! I NEVER miss a chance to promote myself. Fuck performances !

Jesus, Lindsay hater, let it go.

[quote]And by the way, the show's final scene with the rape play was horrifying.

BUT it gave us the golden opportunity to see Paul Alexander Nolan, with his scorching hot body, simulating sexual intercourse very graphically on stage. An experience I will not soon forget.

R255 Ewww. he looks like scabies.

That last scene of Slave Play was very disturbing and uncomfortable to watch.

How To Marry a Millionaire was based on the 1930 Zoe Akins' play The Greeks Had a Word For It.

Of course, the title alone comes from Doris Lilly's non-fiction best-seller.

Though, god knows, there are endless films about 3 pretty girls striking out to make their fortunes dating back to Joan Crawford's 1928 silent hit Our Dancing Daughters and Bette Davis' pre-Code dramedy Three on a Match and the Busby Berkeley musical Gold Diggers of 1933.

Three Coins in a Fountain

Can Lindsey be Audra's standby in Gypsy? Perhaps then one of them will be available for each performance.

Please, more about Lindsey missing performances! I can't get enough!

Slave Play was also a massive flop in Los Angeles. They were giving away tickets.

Fantastic interview with La LuPone on Australian TV today… and she cries twice! Very interesting insights into her collaborations with Sondheim; very astute and smart - not the nasty/bitchy Andy Cohen-fed content she so often succumbs to doing in the USA.

[quote]R259 there are endless films about 3 pretty girls striking out to make their fortunes dating back to Joan Crawford's 1928 silent hit “Our Dancing Daughters”. … also, “Three Coins in the Fountain”

Wasn’t there that other Crawford hit, [italic]Three Cocks in My Asshole [/italic](?)

^^ she was good in that - very truthful, very genuine.

[quote]That New Yorker piece w Groff reminds me why I haven’t dated an actor in 25 years. And Jon, talking about piss constantly makes it seem like you need more finishing at Miss Porter’s...

Could you elaborate? What did he say?

[quote] And Jon, talking about piss constantly makes it seem like you need more finishing at Miss Porter’s...

Perhaps he finished at Miss *Billy* Porter's

R264 That was Helen Lawson.

Actually, the final scene in SLAVE PLAY was the only time in the entire evening I felt like anything real was happening. The first scene was just boringly over-the-top and that fucking middle scene, the "therapy" session was endless jargon-speak.

Water for Elephants last night: Thrilling, dazzling dancing and acrobatic work. Really great. Then it slams to a halt in the book scenes. Boring. Should have replaced the lead. Reminded me of Pauline Kael's infamous remark about Rock Hudson: "Six feet of limp dick." Kudos to Jessica Stone for admirable directing, but not propping up the writing. Oh, and the Pigpen group can't write a show tune.

[quote]Pauline Kael's infamous remark about Rock Hudson: "Six feet of limp dick."

God she was a cunt.

But funny. And not wrong.

By the time the " rape scene" happened, I just didn't care anymore.

Beautiful

That looked dull.

Today in Well, duh! Stereophonic is extending.

Interesting to learn in the Patti LuPone interview provided by R263 that Patti is a Tony voter this year. I’m betting she’s aware of how many shows Mendez has missed. And she criticizes jukebox musicals and the $36 million set in “The Great Gatsby.”

I wonder how STEREOPHONIC will withstand cast changes if it rungs long enough. Has anyone seen one of their understudies go on? It just seems so tightly cast I can't imagine replacements.

R277 I bet Patti wouldn’t vote for Lindsay, anyhow.

She strikes me as a Kecia Lewis voter.

You can smell one a mile away!

Neither can I. But it will happen, there are understudies for each role listed in the program.

I assumed this cast all agreed to up their time with STEREOPHONIC for the rest of the year. That expectation will increase if two of the five actors nominated win.

R260, you jest -- I think. But seriously, it will be interesting to see if Audra is announced for eight performances a week even initially, and what kind of attendance record she keeps during the run of this show.

[quote]I wonder how STEREOPHONIC will withstand cast changes if it rungs long enough. Has anyone seen one of their understudies go on? It just seems so tightly cast I can't imagine replacements.

It always surprises me when people say they "can't imagine replacements" in particular roles, when almost every role in every show ever written and produced has had replacements. There are a lot of talented people out there, though I will say that STEREOPHONIC would seem to require more rehearsal than some other shows to get the ensemble interaction right.

How can GYPSY be selling tickets if Audra hasn't announced her schedule?

They don't make 'em like Marian Seldes any more. Truly a grande dame of the theater. One time she was sitting in the row in front of me at Second Stage, and I leaned forward to tell her how much I had enjoyed her in many theater roles. She turned around, took hold of my hand, and said, "Oh, thank you SO much, darling."

My favorite Marian story, though, is when I saw her in a 1999 LCT production of Ring Round the Moon, when she took over the lead role from an ailing Irene Worth. Sir Peter Hall and some cute young twink (I assume he was Hall's "date") were seated directly behind me and my husband. At the end of the play, all the other cast members took their bows. Then Marian entered, and the lights on the stage actually got brighter for her star bows--no doubt so we could all bask in her glory and see her better. I heard Peter Hall chuckle behind me as the lights grew brighter, and he said (admiringly, I think), "Oh, Marian!" Ever since then, my husband and I use that phrase in honor of Marian.

[Quote] Oh, and the Pigpen group can't write a show tune

Truly, what is a show tune?

Even older than that, R59...

R259 ^

R258 ^

Even older than that, r286...

I guess women have always been gold diggers.

That Illinoise segment seemed awfully twee (and repetitive). Not the show for me, I guess.

I'm not a big fan of ILLINOISE but I'd never say anything about is twee.

Seldes' shtick was to grab a person's hand, stare into their eyes, and utter something appreciative. Never failed. Even if what she did was rote, it always seems to have made the other person feel a bit blessed. Worked for me several times.

I liked the music and dancing in that “Jacksonville” number from ILLINOISE, but couldn’t tell what sort of story it was telling.

If they had a Wednesday matinee I would go, but they don’t and I don’t want to spend an evening at it or waste a weekend afternoon. It seems — not lightweight exactly, but not engrossing enough or meaty enough for an evening in the theater.

Is there any talk as to who will play Desdemona opposite Denzel's Othello? This is tricky because Denzel is 70 and Desdemona should be in her late teens or early 20s and it's not easy to find a young actress who could realistically do it, especially a name actress. I think they'll get a British actress like Emilia Jones.

Reprise by Maggie Smith.

A friend of mine was in an elevator at Lincoln Center with Seldes and grande dame Eva LeGallienne. As the door opened Seldes cried out “Please make way for the greatest actress in American theater history!” And LeGallienne rolled her eyes.

‘Cause Seldes pushed her out the way, of course.

Good thing The Greatest Actress In The English Language wasn't in the elevator.

I love Dame Maggie but even as a younger actress, that's horrible casting.

Yes— Olivier was wrong, in so many ways.

…the film started Laurence Olivier, Maggie Smith, Joyce Redman, and Frank Finlay, who all received Oscar nominations, and provided film debuts for both Derek Jacobi and Michael Gambon.

* starred

John Simon aptly noted that Olivier's Othello had two Emilias.

R297 Betty Buckley should do that at the opening party of Sunset Boulevard with Nicole and push her out of the way as she says it!

Patti Lupone was Hell's Kitchen last night. The show stopped in Act One and the leading lady was replaced by an understudy. Patti didn't stay for the rest of the show.

Excuse me, R306-Patti LuPone IS Hell’s Kitchen!

Patti LuPone WAS Junin!

The idea of Patti Lu bustin out all over frightens me

[quote]Desdemona should be in her late teens or early 20s and it's not easy to find a young actress who could realistically do it, especially a name actress. I think they'll get a British actress like Emilia Jones.

Or her cousin, Catherine Zeta-

Patti lupone was AT Hell's Kitchen last night and left. Sorry !

There may be hope for Bebe if LuPone left Hell’s Kitchen at intermission!

She didn't leave at intermission r312. She left 7 minutes in when the show stopped.

R313. Patti loathes understudies

Patti is in Elaine Stritch territory. She sounds like a dreadful woman.

[QUOTE] There may be hope for Bebe if LuPone left Hell’s Kitchen at intermission!

Someone was trying to peg her as a hidden Kecia voter.

I still think Bebe wins. Although someone I trust implicitly recently saw Merrily We Roll Along and said that Mendez was the best thing about the show. So who knows.

Mendez will win and DataLounge will explode.

Stay tuned.

[quote]Mendez will win and DataLounge will explode.

One Mendez troll does not DataLounge make, r317.

It will be Mendez or Kecia Lewis for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.

R319. So who cares, so what. So who cares, so what!

Hell's Kitchen currently stopped almost 30 minutes now for technical difficulties

R321 it’s because Patti LuPone shit on the set!

It’s because hell’s kitchen is no damn good.

"Hell's Kitchen" has had to stop the show and hold curtain 3 times in the past week now for 3 separate reasons. Bummer for Tony voter time. It will still sweep though I bet.

[quote][R321] it’s because Patti LuPone shit on the set!

Were no wigs available?

Wish Mendez would lose to Kritzer. Lady of the Lake Farewell Tour is steaming live now.

I am loving this r326 . Girl campaigns hard .

She brought out Sweaty Oracle !

If LuPone walked out of HELL’S KITCHEN it’s not because she’s a bitch but because — as mentioned above — she’s a Tony voter this year. She’d have to go back to catch the nominated star anyway, so why stay without her?

Olivier looked quite handsome in the trailer for OTHELLO, but that dark, dark makeup was ridiculous. Even in ‘65 doing blackface was pushing it, and making the makeup that dark only worsened the bad taste. He should have just slapped on some Egyptian #9 and called it a day.

[quote]"Hell's Kitchen" has had to stop the show and hold curtain 3 times in the past week now for 3 separate reasons. Bummer for Tony voter time. It will still sweep though I bet.

Incredible, plus we've also read that the star had to be replaced not long after the beginning of a recent performance (when Patti Lu was in attendance).. And the show is a mess anyway, even when everyone makes it through the performance and there are no technical difficulties.

I wonder how Patti is feeling about the “indefinite halt” of congestion pricing for vehicles entering Manhattan.

^not to worry. The congestion pricing scheme will start up again on Nov. 6th.

[quote]It will be Mendez or Kecia Lewis for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.

Mendez already won a Tony a few years ago for the CAROUSEL revival, so wouldn't Lewis have the edge somehow?

[quote]Mendez already won a Tony a few years ago for the CAROUSEL revival, so wouldn't Lewis have the edge somehow?

I would say yes, plus the fact that I think and hope Mendez will be passed over because of her shameful attendance record.

For sure r332

r334 = Bebe

I saw Merrily twice and I honestly don't remember much that involved Mendez. She was cipher, except in her first scene.

[quote]I would say yes, plus the fact that I think and hope Mendez will be passed over because of her shameful attendance record.

Why it's the biggest scandal in DL history!!!

R338. I'll say!

R264, Crawford’s performance in that was a bit of a stretch.

I seem to be in the minority. I thought Mendez was both strong and memorable.

Did anyone see Sam Gold’s Othello at NYTW with David Oyelowo and Daniel Craig? Thoughts?

I thought Mendez was excellent in DOGFIGHT, THE GOLDEN APPLE and (yes) MERRILY -- strong actress, terrific belt, etc. I only disliked her in CAROUSEL, where her vocal style couldn't have been less suitable. But then again that whole production was a colossal disappointment. (My only other live experience of her was EVERYDAY RAPTURE.)

Mendez was also terrific in Joshua Harmon's INSIGNIFICANT OTHER opposite Gideon Glick.

[quote]I seem to be in the minority. I thought Mendez was both strong and memorable.

Maybe you're not in the minority in your feelings about her performance among those who saw it, but you're in the minority in that she actually showed up onstage when you attended :-)

[quote]Did anyone see Sam Gold’s Othello at NYTW with David Oyelowo and Daniel Craig? Thoughts?

I saw it, and I thought the director's nonsensical attempts to update the action pretty much destroyed the play. I'm curious, why do you ask about this production now?

r345 that's your fourth post on this thread alone about Lindsay's attendance. We get it. Too bad your attendance here isn't as spotty.

R345, make like Lindsay and miss a few performances.

R347, it's pretty sad that you have enough free time as to spend some of it monitoring my posts so closely. And, of course, I would feel no need to continue to post about Mendez's absences if she didn't continue to be absent SO frequently, and if other people didn't keep bringing her up for discussion.

Same to you, R348.

Well,. r349, you now have us all pulling for Lindsay to win.

Oh, that's hilarious, R350. If my annoying you by posting several times about her absences outweighs the fact that she has had more than 70 unscheduled absences from her show since it began performances on Broadway, so be it.

[quote] 70 unscheduled absences

Who wouldn't be fired with 70 unscheduled absences?

R353: Her, apparently.

Well, r351, why don't you write the producers a strongly worded letter and start a petition to have her fired?

70 performances is between 20 and 25 percent of performances since it opened. The producers are marketing the incredible chemistry between the three leads. People paying two or three or four hundred dollars to miss one of three leads are justifiably irritated.

I'm not saying you don't have a point, r355, but your belaboring it doesn't serve any purpose.

Exactly, R355. I'm sure the people posting here who feel Mendez's awful attendance record is a non-issue are those who haven't been affected by it, either because she deigned to show up for the performances they attended or they haven't seen the show at all yet. It's the old "If I'm not personally affected by something, I truly don't care how it affects other people" perspective that is unfortunately so prevalent in people who lack empathy.

Oh, and for R356: I'm the person (or one of the people) who has posted several times on this subject, but I am not R355. You should not assume that only one person is posting about Mendez's absences, because you would be wrong in that assumption.

If I had spent a couple of hundred dollars on a ticket for a show that heavily promotes the chemistry among its three main actors, I would likely feel disappointed if one of them unexpectedly missed a performance. I might even feel a sense of regret for not experiencing their contribution to the show.

However, once seated, I'm sure I would quickly move past that initial disappointment and it would all be fine. I wouldn't be significantly 'affected' by their absence, and I'm confident that most audience members attending this specific production likely feel the same way.

The only individual really directly impacted by Mendez's repeated absences is her understudy. But I'm sure she ain't complaining.

I hope this movie turns out well, but I'm concerned by the fact that, based on this interview, the director sounds like a putz :-(

[QUOTE] However, once seated, I'm sure I would quickly move past that initial disappointment and it would all be fine. I wouldn't be significantly 'affected' by their absence, and I'm confident that most audience members attending this specific production likely feel the same way.

Read this out loud to someone in the room with you and then ask, “Do I sound self-centered?”

R358, your perspective seems skewed to me, and your statement that "the only individual really directly impacted by Mendez's repeated absences is her understudy" is downright bizarre.

At any rate, I'm sure many people feel far more strongly about this situation than you do. And the main point is that IF a Broadway performer is not able to keep to the standard eight-shows-a -week schedule, then the producers should be up front about that (which they certainly have not been) and an alternate should be hired and/or the understudy should be promoted to alternate (which certainly has not happened), because some audience members are going to be far more upset by a star's absence than you apparently are. Do you disagree with that?

I find nothing self-centered in r358's post. His use of "I" illuminates his thoughts, it does not indicate self-absorption.

I find nothing self-centered in r358's post. His use of "I" illuminates his thoughts, it does not indicate self-absorption.

Liza Minnelli is a great “character” in the book At Danceteria. Very vulnerable and believable portrayal of her in a story called “By Halston.”

[quote]I wouldn't be significantly 'affected' by their absence, and I'm confident that most audience members attending this specific production likely feel the same way.

That statement is the essence of self-absorption and arrogance.

I mean even cream of wheat has lumps.

Fining her or publicly chastising her would only bring bad juju on the show, which so far has enjoyed a kind of magical glow.

True, R367. But officially reducing her performance schedule and hiring an alternate (or promoting her understudy to alternate) when it became obvious that her attendance was going to be a big problem would have been the professional way of handling the situation.

What is her “situation” exactly? That she’s lazy?

I actually do believe that this has tanked her chances of winning.

Lindsay seems like a genuinely nice person and if she's going through shit physically and emotionally and doesn't feel like she can play 8 shows a week then no one is going to push her. Everyone is clearly being sensitive to her situation and that's all they can do. And, as long as Groff and Harry Potter show up, the audience will be forgiving.

[quote] I actually do believe that this has tanked her chances of winning.

Is it talked about anywhere except (incessantly) here?

In the women’s toilet at Sardi’s on Wednesday afternoons…not much elsewhere.

A big part of the problem is that, unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be talked about much other than here. At least, not in public forums, but I'm sure it's talked about A LOT by people who missed seeing her in the show. I was told by at least two friends that when they asked at the box office about an hour before the show whether Mendez would be performing that night, they were told "yes," but she was in fact AWOL.

[quote]Lindsay seems like a genuinely nice person and if she's going through shit physically and emotionally and doesn't feel like she can play 8 shows a week then no one is going to push her. Everyone is clearly being sensitive to her situation and that's all they can do.

No. What they COULD also do is officially reduce her schedule and hire an alternate, which -- other than firing her -- would be the best way to deal with the situation without screwing the audience.

Your friends should meet up with the La pool guy from the other thread…start a class action for undeserved refunds by clueless purchasers.

[quote] screwing the audience

That's our speciality.

[quote] What they COULD also do is officially reduce her schedule and hire an alternate, which -- other than firing her -- would be the best way to deal with the situation without screwing the audience.

But then I couldn't just call out whenever I felt like it!

[quote] Lindsay seems like a genuinely nice person

You'd be wrong. She's actually a huge cunt.

We have a ways to go yet, but please keep Lindsay's name out of the title of the next thread.

[quote]I mean even cream of wheat has lumps.

Momma always made me Cream of Wheat.

Lindsey Mendez is indeed a huge cunt.

Does that dire Cream of Wheat sketch ever become funny?

Nope

Calling Julie Benko!

Okay, I have some real gossip.

Over a decade ago during the Broadway revival run of “Mrs. Warren’s Profession” (starring Cherry Jones, Sally Hawkins, and Adam Driver), Sarah Paulson was “hanging around” the theater constantly in a very Eve Harrington way because she was dating Cherry at the time. The stage manager or assistant director or someone had to tell the house to bar her from the theater because she kept sneaking into rehearsals and stuff. At a small informal cast party that was being held at a bar down the street one night after the show, Sarah burst in and immediately rushed over to Adam. She said something like, “You need to have your moles looked at! Believe me, I had the same issue and you need to have them checked out for cancer.” Then, she quickly swanned away to hobnob with any potential A-listers that might be there. When she walked away, Adam said, “What a bitch.”

Great story, R385 :-)

[quote]We have a ways to go yet, but please keep Lindsay's name out of the title of the next thread.

If that's what you want, why don't YOU start the thread? Or are you not able to do so because you're too cheap to donate a few bucks to the continuation of this board?

We actually walked out of that play at intermission—that production sucked so bad.^

The one other show we quit mid-performance was the Lane-Broderick Odd Couple..

[quote]If that's what you want, why don't YOU start the thread? Or are you not able to do so because you're too cheap to donate a few bucks to the continuation of this board?

I have started theater threads before, but it's likely someone will beat me to it.

I know it's hopeless but I'm still pulling for The Outsiders to win over Hell's Kitchen. It's dreadful. The music and performances are fine but the book is the worst dreck...NONE of it makes any sense. I know musicals have a way of reducing everything to the most common denominator, using simplistic and broad plotlines to make it digestible for tourists but even so, this can be done with some charm (like The Heart of Rock n Roll). The creators of Hell's Kitchen used zero artistry in making this show. It's depressing what it says about the industry when this will be the Best Musical.

R385 love that 😂

R390, I'm with you 100 percent on HELL'S KITCHEN, but I think there's also a lot that's wrong with THE OUTSIDERS. Of the nominees, I would say SUFFS deserves Best Musical, although it has its flaws. And HARMONY, despite its own flaws, should have been nominated before HELL'S KITCHEN at least.

[quote]However, once seated, I'm sure I would quickly move past that initial disappointment and it would all be fine. I wouldn't be significantly 'affected' by their absence, and I'm confident that most audience members attending this specific production likely feel the same way.

This would have been true if the understudy was good - a hidden gem. There are lots of these gems in the Broadway community. BUT, Mendez's understudy was not a gem. Mediocre at best, and to me at least, appearing like someone who shone in her high school productions but didn't have the real talent to make it professionally. In the opening drunk scene, she was embarrassingly bad. It's a hard scene to do well, but a good actor (like Mendez) would shine in it. I'm assuming the understudy was cast because of her resemblance to Mendez.

For comparison's sake, what are Kecia Lewis and Bebe Neuwirth's understudies like?

I saw Mendez’s understudy and she was okay. I don’t know that there was a huge difference between her and Mendez in performance.

Let’s just say it wasn’t Terri Klauser

R394. Not sure if Bebe has missed yet but her u/s is Natascia Diaz who plays Kost.

r394 Kecia Lewis' understudies have not been on. I don't know who they are but Kecia is such a force I cannot imagine anyone else in the role.

Bebe is a professional.

I saw Lindsay's understudy - well, I'm not sure if she was the understudy or the cover but she was pretty bad. Fake drunk acting and couldn't sing the score well. I didn't really check the program to see if she was the main one or the second cover.

Michael Arden's production of "Merrily" in Los Angeles years ago was vastly superior to what I saw a few weeks ago on Broadway. And yes I saw Mendez. All of the performers were very good. I just don't think Maria Friedman did anything "groundbreaking" or "fixed the show". It is a GOOD production but not as incredible as everyone is making it out to be. I think this production is the emperor's new clothes.

^^^ my feelings exactly. Unfortunate example of people jumping on a bandwagon. The production is good overall but mostly because of the performances of the leads. The set(s) are awful and the direction is okay at best, and far less than okay in the direction of the role of Gussie. The ridiculously overwrought performance of that role is absolutely the biggest flaw of the show.

I agree, r401.

[quote]Michael Arden's production of "Merrily" in Los Angeles years ago

The one with Aaron Lazar and Wayne Brady? I enjoyed that one as well. I haven't seen the current Broadway version but I saw Maria Friedman's London production (on film) and I agree that it was nothing special.

I saw that one R403. I had hoped it would transfer, that was the plan but you how producers can quibble. Lost opportunity cause it was really good.

Didn't they use ghosts, r404?

I saw Merrily in London and actively disliked it. It was nothing special. Basically, no one bumped into the furniture.

They used younger versions of Mary, Charlie and Frank that worked. Hard to explain. They were SORT OF like ghosts. Wayne Brady, Aaron Lazar and Donna Vivino were excellent as the leads as was Whitney Bashor as Beth. It should have transferred. Gussie I think is an overwrought, unlikeable character though.

[quote] Gussie I think is an overwrought, unlikeable character though.

But never as much so as in the current production. For example, the character certainly did not come across as so incredibly off-putting when played by Emily Skinner in the Sondheim Festival production at the Kennedy Center.

Dolly Parton Musical Coming To Broadway In 2026:

Not Dolly Parton, but an incredible simulation!

[quote]R361 some audience members are going to be far more upset by a star's absence than you apparently are.

Seeing an understudy go in in a major role is a big disappointment. It’s a bait and switch a lot of people will put up with because they’re at the theater already, have set aside the time, etc.

Mandy Patinkin was out the night a friend brought me to THE SECRET GARDEN for my birthday. The understudy was capable, but it’s really not the same.

[quote] Mandy Patinkin was out the night a friend brought me to THE SECRET GARDEN for my birthday. The understudy was capable, but it’s really not the same.

Trust me, you were better off with the understudy. Mandy was so mawkish and overwrought in the role. I saw it again a few months later after he left and Howard McGillin took over and it was night and day. McGillin sang it better and didn't do all the schmactoring Mandy did.

Hmmmm. You mean I can set my resentment free, after all these years??

I almost want to burst into song!

Would this current Broadway production of Merrily We Roll Along be as successful if Sondheim were still alive?

I wish he had the opportunity to see it become a big hit.

I agree that the physical production of the current Merrily is unremarkable if not ugly. In fact, I think Friedman uses its generic setting to completely sidestep the show’s comments on American history. It’s not a mistake that this show is set parallel to a major unraveling of America from 1957 to 1981.

What it gets right is the emotional truth. The audience gasps when they hear 1957 Frank say Mary is the girl he wants to marry. When Charley tells him that he writes what he knows, there is a similar reaction. Whatever you think of Gussie or the set of Daniel Radcliffe, the audience collectively understands the show in a way that I have not seen before.

Also, if you are feeling Merrily, check out this new documentary about the original production. Nothing revelatory, but some footage and anecdotes that are really great.

Can't find that doc on Youtube, r416. And the link doesn't work.

Too Much Gussie!!!

I'm now putting money down that Hell's Kitchen doesn't take the Tony. I've talked to 5 voters, and all loathed it. No one can understand those reviews. I think it's either OUTSIDERS or SUFFS.

Yeah, I'm with R419 - HK's not winning Best Musical.

I'm still betting Sterophonic will take Best Play, but more and more I'm hearing disappointment from people seeing it.

Broadway is all about money over artistic achievement...HK for the win. They dare not offend Keys or risk being called " racist."

All the woke Yasss Kweens running Broadway are ruining it.

r409 So .... Megan Hilty or Kristi Dawn?

[quote]What it gets right is the emotional truth. The audience gasps when they hear 1957 Frank say Mary is the girl he wants to marry. When Charley tells him that he writes what he knows, there is a similar reaction. Whatever you think of Gussie or the set of Daniel Radcliffe, the audience collectively understands the show in a way that I have not seen before.

Fair enough, but I have seen several productions of MERRILY in which all of that was very emotionally effective. It's clear to me that one reason why so many people are over-praising certain aspects of the current production, especially the direction, is that they have very rarely if even seen the show on stage and are only comparing the current production to what they have read about the epic failure of the original production.

R423. Jinkx Monsoon.

Yes, Jinkx Monsoon is fatter and older looking than both of them.

I saw the original in previews (before Jim Walton took over as Frank), I saw an excellent production in Chicago a few years later, and the taped version of the British production some years ago. The score has some lovely and at times thrilling songs, but, in whichever version, I think the books remains trite and the characters not nearly as “deep” as many seem to think. If it had been a senior project in a musical playwriting class, I’d applaud the effort and think the writer and composer showed promise. But as mid-career Sondheim, it still feels like a weak piece. I think highly of both Groff and Radcliffe (in addition to film/TV work, I saw Groff in Spring Awakening and Radcliffe in Equus and thought them excellent); I have no opinion about Mendez, other than, like others, think the attendance issue is troubling, especially given the price of tickets—maybe they should have just replaced her as they did Dean Jones with Larry Kerr in Company). I won’t be seeing this production, not out of pique (family issues preclude trips to NYC at this time), but I wouldn’t be eager to make it a priority were I to be able to get to Manhattan for a weekend—too many more interesting plays (though no musicals that call to me).

Hilty has already worked with Dolly on 9 to 5 so she would be the obvious choice unless Death Becomes Her is a big hit and she sticks with it.

Death Becomes Her starts in the early Fall and the Dolly musical has just been announced for 2026 (according to Variety). I am sure that Hilty might be free from DBH by then.

Exactly, R429. That comment from R428 was very odd.

R427 here. Kert not Kerr. Autocorrect always thinks she knows better. She’s such a chnt.

R431 that was 5 hours ago. That’s 10 DL YEARS. who gives a fuck?

Hattie with "her dress cut down to there".

Now that I've finally seen APPROPRIATE I'm even more sure Jessica Lange is taking home that Tony.

Also, Corey Stoll....what a man!!!

Corey Stoll is so fucking hot. Paulson is taking the Tony though.

Did anyone see the Maria Friedman Merrily in Boston a few years ago? Did it change much before Lindsey Mendez's understudy, Daniel Radcliffe's Terrible Voice, and Jonathan Groff's inability to play straight took over? I saw and enjoyed the Boston production but it wasn't life altering like people say the Broadway one is.

There is nothing more insightful than the people who pontificate on a show they have not seen. Looking at you, r427 and r436.

R436, I saw it at the Huntington in Boston, where Maria Friedman was greeting audience members outside the theatre as they arrived.

I don’t believe it was much different than what is presently on Broadway.

Emperor is naked

Did you see “what is presently on Broadway,” r438?

[quote]Emperor is naked

Pics please!

Can Corey Stoll play the Emperor?

Please??

The streets are saying Keke Palmer has been cast as Louise opposite Audra.

[quote]r415 I wish Sondheim had the opportunity to see it become a big hit.

Hopefully he’d catch the show on a night Lindsay’s there.

R437 what do you think the word pontificating means? I don't think mentioning Mendez's widely reported absences, Radcliffe's singing voice (it has been recorded), or Groff's inability to play straight (an idea that has been written about before many many times) and asking about the changes of a production between Boston and New York is "pontificating." But thank you for contributing!

The sets for both the Boston production and this Broadway production look identical.

R446

I loved the Merrily revival.

So there.

There is pointless bitchery and there is outright assholery, r445.

R445 what am I missing here? I didn't see either pointless bitchery or outright assholery. The poster was asking a question.

[quote]The sets for both the Boston production and this Broadway production look identical.

As they were for the previous London production. Identically ugly and boring. (Well, to be completely accurate, I think they may have added one drop and some other very minor set and prop elements for the current production.)

Gotta say, this thread is the first I've ever heard anyone, anywhere suggest that Jonathan Groff is unsuccessful at playing straight -- and yet that poster insists this is "an idea that has been written about before many many times."

That charge is particularly heinous and totally untrue in view of the fact that, as far as I can tell, Groff is THE FIRST openly gay male actor to have a very successful career during which he has played many straight roles (along with some gay ones) in film and TV as well as theater. That's a historic achievement, and we don't need some DL fool insisting otherwise.

Mark Umbers, in the Boston production also played Frank in London and is in the video capture on youtube, correct?

r453 Yes, and Charley was also a repeat from London.

Excuse me, R452?

I know you're joking, R455, but I don't think Sean Hayes is quite in the same category as Jonathan Groff in terms of success in playing straight, leading man roles.

Sean Hayes played straight successfully in Promises, Promises.

R456, Jonathan Groff pings to heaven and back.

In your opinion, R458. But you don't understand that you feel that way because you KNOW he's gay (because he has been open about it), which has nothing to do with his way of speaking or his body language or anything like that. It's the attitudes of people like you who are partly responsible for the fact that so many gay male actors still feel they have to remain in the closet.

R459, Seriously? Who didn’t detect Groff was gay before he came out?

Nobody.

Did we time travel back to the 90s? Is “straight passing” supposed to be a badge of honor?

I wonder if Mendez would have had quite so many absences if Steve were still alive and likely to call in any night.

[quote]Did we time travel back to the 90s? Is “straight passing” supposed to be a badge of honor?

What???? We're not talking about "straight passing," we're talking about whether an openly gay actor -- in this case, Jonathan Groff -- is believable when playing straight characters in theater, film, and TV,

I wonder if Mendez would have had quite so many absences if Steve were still alive and likely to call in any night.

I hadn't thought of that question, but it's an excellent one, and my answer is "almost certainly not."

^^^Sorry:

[quote]I wonder if Mendez would have had quite so many absences if Steve were still alive and likely to call in any night.

I hadn't thought of that question, but it's an excellent one, and my answer is "almost certainly not."

And we all know he WOULD have called by a lot, to watch his poor little ugly ducking show emerge as the most acclaimed swan on Broadway.

Mark Harris (Tony Kushner’s writer hubby) normally displays good taste but his posting on BlueSky about Daniel Radcliffe being the ideal Bobby in a future revival of Company seems misguided to me. It’s pretty clear Jonathan Groff would be absolutely perfect as Bobby in a few years-his charming and boyish bi vibes would suit the role to a T, IMO.

Also, R467, although I think Radcliffe has a fine singing voice for certain roles, I don't think it's quite good enough for Bobby in COMPANY. I've been saying over the past several years that Groff would be the perfect Bobby (if the show is ever again done with a male in the lead). And although another production in the near future is unlikely given that the last one was quite recent, I hope Groff gets to do the part soon, because he's just about the perfect age for the role right now.

Jonathan Groff could sing Bobby in Company. Dan Radcliffe, not so much. It’s not a character sing.

Mark Harris lost all credibility with me with the Mike Nichols biography. There was a great story there, but Harris didn't have the perspective (or the courage) to tell the whole, complex truth about Nichols. It was a fan girl biography.

In my conversations with Tony voters it's between OUTSIDERS and SUFFS, with the occasional "ELEPHANTS."

John Barrowman played Bobby in DC in 2002 and he was “believable”.

His Bobby was better than Lynn Redgrave’s Joanne.

Michael Grief to Shoshanna Bean: "Go to the lip of the stage and bark like a dog to music. They'll love it."

And so she does, 8 shows a week. In between the barking, she cuts a lot of vegetables.

R471:

[quote]Mark Harris lost all credibility with me with the Mike Nichols biography. There was a great story there, but Harris didn't have the perspective (or the courage) to tell the whole, complex truth about Nichols. It was a fan girl biography.

I partly agree with you, but though I think the omissions were a major flaw of the book, I would not go to the other extreme and characterize it as a "fan girl biography."

I was not a fan girl.

[quote] Sean Hayes played straight successfully in Promises, Promises.

Only in the sense that Mickey Rooney was successful in his portrayal as an Asian in Breakfast At Tiffany’s.

I see the bashing of successful and openly gay men remains a time honored DL tradition.

Successful openly gay men are a dime a dozen in NY…across all fields and disciplines. He ain’t all that.

[quote]Sean Hayes played straight successfully in Promises, Promises.

I would agree, but I still don't think he has the level of success of Groff in playing straight romantic leads. And although he certainly didn't come across as guy when he played Oscar Levant or, for that matter, Jerry Lewis, I don't think either of those roles qualify for what I'm talking about. And even his role in PROMISES was more of a character role.

R480, How many straight roles has Jonathan Groff played?

Tis the season of Emperor's new clothes indeed r439 . Merrily and Hell's Kitchen biggest offenders.

Alicia Keys sends personal voice memos to every single Tony voter after they attend a show. It is a lovely message about thanking them for coming and supporting her childhood dreams and she also talks about being a native New Yorker etc. It doesn't campaigning "vote for me" but it is a stroke of genius.

She has the money and time obviously to make all of these messages as they have the person's actual name too. Gotta hand it to her she is out for a sweep. So if Hell's Kitchen sweeps at least the lead producer worked her ass off for it.

Even though I didn't love Suffs or Outsiders I secretly hope one of those shows wins best musical because they NEED the win more than Hell's Kitchen.

As to Mark Hark Harris, I imagine he had a choice. If he didn't expose everything about Nichols, he'd have access to Diane Sawyer, Nichols' kids and any number of famous friends and colleagues of Nichols.

I think Groff has really grown as an actor. I was not an immediate fan of his way back when, outside of his singing, and I've watched film and television with him in the past gritting my teeth, but he has legitimately shown he can act, can play a range of roles, and has genuinely improved and become quite a talent. I enjoy watching him now, and seeing what different roles he can play.

Sean Hayes, OTOH, ought to put on a horse costume, climb a high tower and jump into a bucket of water. He's a total one trick pony, and the trick is just that stale.

As with so many celebs, the worst thing about Groff are his fans

I would say that about Dan Radcliffe, who is not a very good actor (and is a terrible musical actor) yet because of something he did before he had pubic hair, has a legion of fans claiming he's actually got talent.

[quote]How many straight roles has Jonathan Groff played?

This may not be an exhaustive list, but his theater roles in SPRING AWAKENING, LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, and MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG were all straight characters. Also his roles in GLEE and MINDHUNTER, and those were both TV series. I guess it's true that he has not yet played a major leading role of a straight male character in a film, unless you count FROZEN :-) But I'm sure that will happen, and I do think he is, at this point in history, the most successful openly gay actor to (sometimes) play straight in all media

[quote]Alicia Keys sends personal voice memos to every single Tony voter after they attend a show. It is a lovely message about thanking them for coming and supporting her childhood dreams and she also talks about being a native New Yorker etc. It doesn't campaigning "vote for me" but it is a stroke of genius.

If that's not clearly campaigning without coming right out and saying "vote for me," I don't know what is. But as to whether it violates any written rules set by the Tony administration, I'm thinking probably not.

R485, I'm glad you've come around to liking Groff, but I'm curious, which of his past performances caused you to "grit your teeth?"

[Quote] So if Hell's Kitchen sweeps at least the lead producer worked her ass off for it.

Too bad she didn’t work her ass off making it a better show.

A lot of my frau friends thought Groff was straight. They loved him from Mindhunter and he played a straight character. The basic fraus aren’t assuming a man is gay unless it’s a Dan Levy or Sean Hayes.

He could definitely play Bobby.

I totally agree with R485 - Groff has grown into a fine actor.

As for his sexuality and the roles he plays, I thought the out gay Jonathan was dreadful playing the out gay Patrick in Looking. But he was great playing the straight Holden in Mindhunter.

I hope it's a while before we have another "Company" revival. That being said, the next Bobby will either be black or trans, unless Trump is elected, in which case, he will be white.

[quote]Too bad she didn’t work her ass off making it a better show.

Amen. She herself should have realized, even if no one else did, that some of her pre-existing song hits DO NOT fit the contexts in which they're sung in this show. And, for that matter, at least one of the news songs she wrote expressly for the show doesn't fit, either.

[quote]As for his sexuality and the roles he plays, I thought the out gay Jonathan was dreadful playing the out gay Patrick in Looking.

Dreadful at playing him in what way? Maybe you just didn't like the way that character was conceived and written?

Can the Groff fangirl take a break from demanding people justify why they disliked certain performances of his?

[quote]That being said, the next Bobby will either be black or trans

Bless your heart, r494.

R490, Perhaps it was the episode of “Looking” where Groff’s character took a cock up his ass while splayed against a tree?

I think it’s between Outsiders and Suffs too.

Suffs is the political piece but Outsiders will tour more easily

I saw Davis Gaines play Bobby in a 1997 production of Company in Boston and he definitely did not project “straight”.

R500, No one wants to see Hillary’s fat ass on the stage at Lincoln Center on Tony night.

It's probably the only thing that would induce me to watch the Tonys, asshole r502.

R503 has seen Suffs seventeen times.

Has it ever been revealed who was Groff's partner for three-and-a-half years—the one who he called his "roommate" at the time.? He mentions him in The New Yorker article.

R505, Not Quinto?

I remember when Groff was in a relationship with Gavin Creel in the late 2000s.

I thought they made a good pair.

[quote]I wish he had the opportunity to see it become a big hit.

Boo fucking hoo. It's still a shit show and is a "hit" because of the cast. Why do you think it's closing if it is such a sensation? Because they can't cast it with the star power they have now. And I don't mean the girl with the 70 misses.

Groff's voice is too breathy, and the only thing that seems straight about him is his fat.

I like Groff's chubby cousin James Wolpert. I think heaviness runs in the family.

I think Russell Tovey is right up there with Groff playing straight roles. In fact, I'd say Tovey exceeds Groff. Dino Fetscher is another young Brit actor who effortlessly plays straight.

It'll be interesting to see if Jonathan Bailey gets cast in many more straight roles after Wicked the movie opens.

It’s inSUFFSerable

I don't think Quinto was ever his "roommate" and certainly not for three years.

[quote]Can the Groff fangirl take a break from demanding people justify why they disliked certain performances of his?

Can you take a break from post like this, which add nothing to the discussion? And I didn't "demand" anything, princess.

R511, good points. There are a few openly gay Brits who have had success in straight roles in theater, film, and TV, but I do think Groff is the most successful openly gay American actor in that regard.

But Russell Tovey is a terrible actor and cannot do an American accent to save his life.

And those Dumbo ears of his are fucking distracting.

[quote]And those Dumbo ears of his are fucking distracting.

They get him where he needs to go.

Sally is, indeed, the first to arrive...

[quote]No one wants to see Hillary’s fat ass on the stage at Lincoln Center on Tony night.

Speak for yourself, MAGAt.

LOL, R519, that image reminds me of Trump descending the escalator in his hall-of-mirrors tower.

It's another fairly active week for Broadway folks on talk shows. Steve Carell is appearing Monday on Today to plug Despicable Me 4, but maybe Uncle Vanya will get a mention. Steve is appearing that same day on The Tonight Show. Jonathan Groff is appearing Monday on CBS Mornings. Eddie Redmayne and Gayle Rankin are appearing Monday on The Kelly Clarkson Show. Sky Lakota-Lynch is appearing Monday in GMA3. Alex Edelman is appearing Tuesday on The Drew Barrymore Show. Eddie Redmayne is appearing Tuesday on Seth Meyers. Daniel Radcliffe is appearing Wednesday on CBS Mornings. Renée Elise Goldsberry is appearing Thursday on Today.

Helen Lawson will be on “Sherri” on Friday to promote her upcoming one woman Broadway show . . . Unabridged and Unplugged.

And, after the Tonys, they will disappear from tv and many of their shows will disappear from Broadway.

The Puerto Rican Day Parade is today. This has to be the first time in several years it didn’t fall on the same day as the Tony Awards.

R525, But the Tonys will fall on Father’s Day.

What is already scheduled to close due to limited engagements, and what is likely to close as a result of the Tonys, R524? Some of these shows only opened in mid-to-late April and are still running on their advance. Is $750K still a typical figure to keep a big musical open?

I saw Stereophonic last night. Cons: 15 mins too long, and a bit less music than I expected—but that’s on me. Pros: the set, the sound and the performers. It did a great job of unfolding the creative process, and letting you “into the room” to see how it happens. It sure took me back to mid/late 70s California in the best way possible.

As much as I loved Canfield as Holly (it took me a while to realize she was also in Succession—her accent was spot on), Sarah deserves the Tony. As for the men. It’s a toss-up…they were both so good.

This play could become a really good movie, if handled the right way.

* all so good

Agree Sarah Pidgeon should win the Tony hands down. But who would you choose among the guys?

I started out thinking Will Brill was the obvious choice, but I’ve come around to the idea that Tom Pecinka and Eli Gelb had the more difficult, less showy roles and completely nailed them. I’m leaning toward Pecinka. Some think the three will cancel each other out. But since there are relatively few Tony voters and they presumably running into each other as they see all the nominated shows, I would think there would be a consensus.

Thanks— if I had to pick I’d say Eli—since he leaves you with the last impression. He underplayed the part in a very strong way, if that makes sense at all.

My vote would also be for Eli. Although Pecinka and Brill are excellent. And I love R528 idea that somebody needs to film it. I would be happy with a NT-broadcast quality. I am sure that it would go to the NT and we will get a broadcast. It will be perfect at the Lyttleton.

I had no interest in Alex Edelman after 10 minutes of his streaming special, but I returned to it last might and have to admit he's kind of genius.

Vote for Eli too because he ends up being the soul of the show. But Brill is much loved in the theater community.

I guess I'm the only one in this place who actually had a good time at Hell's Kitchen. I hope it wins.

Brill is the theater veteran and Broadway in that group so that was one reason I figured he had it in the bag at first. But the work of Pecinka and Gelb stayed with me longer.

But I agree that Gelb gets those fraught, affecting last moments which say so much and with his back to the audience. I ‘m undecided.

“and Broadway veteran” meant to say above.

Alex Edelman is the quintessence of meh.

If all the women Gelb is supposed to have fucked vote for him, he's a shoo-in.

Does anyone have Edelman's nudes?

I saw STEREOPHONIC at Playwrights. I liked it, and I liked the music to an extent. But seeing the cast doing one of the songs on a talk show, I realized that those songs all sounded like B-sides. None of them screamed mega-hit which is what it's implied the album will become. The songs were all just...meh.

So you missed the entire idea of how a song transforms from the raw recording g to the finished product on an album? Just askin’

What the hell was with that awful PBS special about R&H? And why was Mary McDonnell doing the pledge breaks?

It was awful, but the one from The Proms with John Wilson was excellent.

The Prom was one of the stupidest musicals in recent years.

I can't believe they turned it into a movie.

It's long past but interviews about the Vegas Follies. I love 97yo Anna Bailey.

[Quote] And why was Mary McDonnell doing the pledge breaks?

Everyone everyone else said no?

I'm a Tony voter and Alecia's voicemail was a gross use of AI. There's no way she recorded these individually, and did they think we were so stupid to believe she did. Further proof of how the show is a ridiculous vanity project.

R548, you could at least spell Alicia's name right.

I admire her moxie.

They don’t have to spell her name correctly to vote for someone else on the Tony ballot, R549

Why did Alecia Parker call you?

[quote]Does anyone have Edelman's nudes?

I only have HERB Edelman's.

r545=G.

[quote]I had no interest in Alex Edelman after 10 minutes of his streaming special, but I returned to it last might and have to admit he's kind of genius.

How do you account for the major change in your opinion? Are you saying that the first 10 minutes of the show didn't grab you but the rest of it did?

[quote]I guess I'm the only one in this place who actually had a good time at Hell's Kitchen. I hope it wins.

You may have had a "good time," but that doesn't necessarily mean there's much actual quality in the show. I'm surprised you don't recognize how much of the plot is nonsensical and what a mess the show is overall.

r555, maybe just as simple as a change of mood. Having heard that he was on the TiIME list of 100 Most Influential, I was in an "Oh yeah?" place. (A special Tony made me perk up too.) But seeing the masterful way he weaves his narrative is quite impressive, and he is undeniably charming. Sorry I missed him on stage.

Julian Edelman?

Marian Wright Edelman

Scott Edelman eats donuts...Probably Entenmanns

Marty Edelman is a guiding light for the Jackie Robinson Foundation, and the most important real estate lawyer in NYC that you won’t everread about in the news. He never deigned to represent Trump, going back to the 80s.

I wish Broadway would stop reporting on recoupment and box office records. Fuck you actually. I mean it's good news for you, I guess, and we need shows to recoup for ongoing productions to happen, but we've lost the plot.

and speaking of losing the plot, r535

[quote]The Prom was one of the stupidest musicals in recent years. I can't believe they turned it into a movie.

Are you confusing " The Prom" with " The Proms" to which the poster above you was referring?

Yes—yes they were…very confused.

Floyd Collins revival set for the Vivian Beaumont in March, 2025.

It's great that it's getting a major revival. Guettel could have never written another musical after Floyd Collins, and he could be satisfied that he'd written a masterpiece.

[quote]I wish Broadway would stop reporting on recoupment and box office records. Fuck you actually. I mean it's good news for you, I guess, and we need shows to recoup for ongoing productions to happen, but we've lost the plot.

It's called show BUSINESS, not show CHARITY.

R567 and more than that, I think people are much more interested in the business aspect of it these days. Perhaps to the detriment of the industry but fans are clearly interested if something is a hit or flop, recoup or not.

Fleeting observation: I just walked past the James Earl Jones (formerly the Cort). Hadn’t been by there in a long time. Man, what a gorgeous theater.

R556 Don't have any aneurysm when it wins.

Love Audra’s cover of “how glory goes” from Floyd Collins. Beautiful song.

The James Earl Jones has a great bathroom, compared to other theaters in NY.

I've watched Alex Edelman's Just For Us more than twice and laughed every time. He lands every joke, the smart ones and the dumb ones. And his story has a point, despite its many digressions, my favorite being the year his Jewish family celebrated Christmas for a bereft Christian friend. Plus, he's nerdy cute.

[quote]The James Earl Jones has a great bathroom, compared to other theaters in NY.

Because the bathrooms are now in the expanded section of the theater lobby that was built as part of the renovation.

Saw Titanic on tdf and it reminded me of watching this as a gayling in 1997. I thought it was so beautiful and wore out the VHS recording of it (major Mary). .

Loathe her now, but Rosie provided so much joy to gaylings all over with these Broadway performances in the 90s.

I wish they put clips like that in a compellation DVD like they did for the PBS special

Here's another TItanic clip from ROsie

SS

Why did Rosie end her talk show after only 6 seasons?

It was still pretty popular.

I remember people begging her not to end it.

I remember the Broadway performances from Rosie so clearly. When she said Chenoweth was a star and would win the Tony for Charlie Brown is another one burned in my brain.

Also when she had Sutton on to sing Gimme Gimme.

It's that time again: The 2024 Tony Award Challenge. Prove to us that you know what you're talking about.

Someone should form a DL League to compare guesses.

Brian D’Arcy James and Michael Serveris look like babies in that first “Titanic” clip (which Rosie O’Donnell persisted in calling “The Titanic”) — Why shouldn’t they, it was 27 years ago now.

For what it’s worth, one Tony voter I spoke to today said he voted for “Suffs” for best musical, not “Hell’s Kitchen.” And he voted for Kelli O Hara for Actress in a Musical. We’ll see if he is an outlier or a bellwether.

Has anyone seen the Funny Girl tour? It must be doing well because it's booked until April 2025.

I saw it in LA about two months ago. It was really good - much better than the Broadway version - and Melissa Manchester was surprisingly good as Mrs. Brice. Katerina McCrimmon was an excellent Fanny, The sets still look cheap.

But aren't there some bafflingly ugly new murals in the upper lobby of the James Earl Jones Theatre? Really tacky? That's my memory, anyway.

Sarah and Jessica both won the Drama Desk award. It's a tie!!!!!

It’s not a tie. DD is giving two awards in every performance category, but not separating them by gender.

[quote]You may have had a "good time," but that doesn't necessarily mean there's much actual quality in the show. I'm surprised you don't recognize how much of the plot is nonsensical and what a mess the show is overall.

Dude, pull the Playbill outta your ass. He enjoyed himself. Not everyone goes to see a show to critique it and find fault. They go to be entertained. That's all a show is, nothing more. Anyone who forsakes a Chemotherapy appointment to see "Merrily We Roll Along" might regret it.

r586 It’s not a tie. The drama desk is giving two awards in every performance category, but they are not separated by gender.

So did Jessica or Sarah get the most votes?

Jessica won by a mile. Sarah's award is virtually meaningless.

The Drama Desk's gender-neutral acting awards are in and all the winners bar one (Brian D'Arcy James) are female: •Jessica Lange & Sarah Paulson, for Outstanding Lead Performance in a Play), •Maleah Joi Moon & Kelli O’Hara, for Outstanding Lead Performance in a Musical (a three-way tie with B.D'J), •Celia Keenan-Bolger & Kara Young, for Outstanding Featured Performance in a Play, and •Kecia Lewis, Hell’s Kitchen & Bebe Neuwirth, for Outstanding Featured Performance in a Musical.

The way of the future?

Why are these not-Tony awards shunning “Stereophonic”? is it too commercial and crowd-pleasing? Too well reviewed? Too evidently a Tony winner?

Kara Young was horrible in “Purlie Victorious,” I’ve never seen such crude scenery-chewing.

"Stereophonic" had no acting nominations, R593, but won six others. There must be some eligibility issue due to being previously staged off-Broadway. In that case, "Stereophonic" did very well.

When was the last time you thought about Chili Bouchier?

I believe STEREOPHONIC's off-Broadway run and its current Broadway run are both within the same season so it would seem the DD nominators simply didn't care enough for the performers. It did win most of the Design awards for which it was eligible.

[quote]Here's another TItanic clip from Rosie

I prefer these voices.

Queenie was a blonde...

Review of the Christian Borle/Krysta Rodriguez/Richard Kind/Caroline Aaron "Birdie" at the Kennedy Center.

BAJOUR!