THEATRE GOSSIP #576: The "Tammy Faye is Swept Away" Edition

Previous thread:

(Insert 10 posts of bitching about the thread title.)

I think it's fine, OP.

The bidding for Chita's Spider Woman Tony is holding steady at $8,000 with five days left to go. Her Tony for The Rink is currently going for $1k less.

Too soon OP?

[quote]The bidding for Chita's Spider Woman Tony is holding steady at $8,000 with five days left to go. Her Tony for The Rink is currently going for $1k less.

Only the two?

Did William Hurt’s kids sell his “Kiss” Oscar? Will JLo’s kids sell hers??

Joy Behar To Lead Cast Of Her Off Broadway Play ‘My First Ex-Husband’:

Still no link to that video then?

R7: I can fill in while she's out.

What is the ABS as it relates to Michael Park in the last thread?

Will I be embarrassed that I couldn't figure it out?

R7 omg, I’m a fan of Joy…but that show sounds dreadful!

A playwright she ain't!

Wow! We're getting a whole new Wicked musical.

I wonder if Schwartz and Holzman are going to make “Son of a Witch” into a musical?

Did anyone identify the middle poster in the bottom row of that porn scene from the last thread?

I'm now the lead bidder on a few of Chita's outfits.

MARY!

real women have Boops!

Nicely done OP on thread name!

r10 Adult bookstore. Which Mr. Park is rumored to have frequented in his television days.

(Or was it his Evan Hansen days?)

If the latter—-on the west side of 8th Ave, in the high 40s?!

First preview of Gypsy.

I’m sure the queens will say Audra is definitive and “mother” and “queen”

It doesn’t deny the fact that her voice is not right for this role no matter how many times she “SLAYS”

Or 8th Ave., between 14th and 23rd?

Rumor has it he can suck the chrome off a bumper!

Jesse Green really loved the ladies of Death Becomes Her:

Megan Hilty and Jennifer Simard are "comic treasures"

"Hilty is an inventive and beguiling comedian, putting a warm spin on even the meanest zingers."

"Simard is simply brilliant. I say 'simply' advisedly; it takes a lot of craft and homework to stand next to Hilty and not be outdone. Happily, her Helen is an astonishing creation of disappointment and disparagement: Dorothy Parker boiled down to a syrup, spitting takedowns like sour candies."

"The chance to see two theatrical masterminds go at it for a few hours is sufficient justification for the effort. I wouldn’t be surprised if, in its next incarnation, the Lunt-Fontanne Theater became the Hilty-Simard."

R24: I'm shocked how much he liked Swept Away.

Reviews for DBH are mostly raves and even Jesse was mixed.

Having worked with Chris Gattelli a couple of times over the years, I'm quite shocked he got it together. Of all those ex-chorus boys who went on to become choreographers and then directors, he would have been the last I'd predicted this kind of success. But he's a sweet guy, so there's that.

I think Hilty/Simard will be tougher to figure out for Tonys.

At least Mary Louise Wilson and Christine Ebersole had a clear lead/supporting divide.

No one will ever accuse OP of being a try hard.

I would think Chita’s Tony for The Rink would have the higher value since it was her first and therefore more historically significant. She also beat Bernadette and Liza.

Bonham’s hasn’t positioned this correctly.

Bernadette deserved that Tony.

Well, now she can buy it!

Poor Bernie.

Yeah, but Bernie didn't deserve her Tony for AGYG and Song & Dance was nothing special, either, so it all equals out. She got those two awards to make up for losing Sunday and (later) Gypsy.

I didn't know Tony voters were psychics who also considered future losses when voting. Does the American Theatre Wing give out crystal balls with Antoinette Perry trapped inside like Madame Leota?

Sweetie, I didn't mean it literally. I meant that there were two performances Bernadette deserved Tonys for that she didn't get and two she got because the competition was weak those years and it was nice to honor her. If it means so much to you to be chronologically in order, then you may count her AGYG award as a make up for Into the Woods.

Meanwhile, Marissa Jaret Winokur was a guest judge on a roller skating competition show last month.

Marissa Jaret Winokur makes me want to leave America.

[quote]Did anyone identify the middle poster in the bottom row of that porn scene from the last thread?

It's for a production of Pam Gems' play, "Dusa, Fish, Stas, & Vi" at the Mark Taper Forum in L.A. (1978)

The stars were: Dianne Wiest, Jennifer Warren, Fran Brill, & Marybeth Hurt.

THANK you, r37! For some reason, that was driving me crazy! Blessings on you!

The new Sally Bowles in Cabaret seems to be out of the show quite a bit more than her scheduled absences. Don't these youngins like to work anymore?

So Gypsy first preview is getting a mixed review.

The influencers on Twitter are all saying Audra and the show are amazing (as predicted) and that Audra had Tony #7 sewn up.

Broadwayworld chat board is much more critical and calling the whole thing a misfire and Audra miscast.

Will be interesting to see who wins the argument in the end.

Audra’s voice is just fine for Rose. It’s just a warmer voice than the sledgehammer stuff we’re used to. It will make Rose a more empathetic person.

Looking forward to see this version! Never, never bet against Audra.

[Quote] Audra had Tony #7 sewn up

What about me and my Jesus MAGA hat??

Someone has apparently started a thread - they apparently exploded in a gushing orgasm after seeing Audra.

Those first preview GYPSY comments on BroadwayWorld are all over the place but everyone agrees the strippers stole the show. As usual. Audra's getting everything from STUNNING to looks like she doesn't want to be there.

[quote]Someone has apparently started a thread - they apparently exploded in a gushing orgasm after seeing Audra.

I hope they sat on a towel.

Or my face.

[quote]Audra’s voice is just fine for Rose. It’s just a warmer voice than the sledgehammer stuff we’re used to.

That's your opinion, which many people are obviously not going to share. And not all previous Roses had "sledghammer" voices -- for example, Lansbury, Lavin, Peters.

r40 The posts on BWW are all over the place, so you claiming they say one thing in particular is completely untrue

I have a vague memory of that play Dusa, Fish, Stas and Vi in NY but can't remember any specifics. It was certainly a memorable title if nothing else.

Must look it up now.

If I were a collector of such things I'd much prefer having a Tony for Chita Rivera in KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN sitting on my mantle just because the title is so much more eye-catching and exotic than THE RINK (which could have flopped on Broadway just for the blandness of the title alone).

^^^Also, THE RINK is little more than a footnote in theater history, whereas KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN is far better known and loved, even before the imminent release of the film version.

Both Rita Moreno and Rachel Zegler were on Seth Meyers' show last night. I assume his booker hates DL.

i won this one for gettin' raped, right on the boardwalk!

Another thank you to R37! I never heard of this show! DL is educational.

Evan Ross Katz on Ariana and Cynthia's performances in Wicked:

Easily lost in the cacophony of talking points around a film so big it almost can’t be contained is just how seismically spectacular these two performances are from Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande. It’s not that it’s not obvious. In fact, it’s in a sense *so* obvious that your brain can trick you into thinking it need not be discussed because it’s simply a universal truth, right? Yet still, it’s necessary that we tether and frame the conversation. Performances like these don’t just happen. They are honed. I believe it’s rare to witness, and when one does, it is necessary to call it out and offer up our flowers (specifically in this instance, tulips). I particularly love Jonny’s point here: “You have to leave your life behind and immerse yourself so fully.” What these women achieve on that screen is of course rooted in talent, but it’s brought to life through craft. Rigorous. Meticulous. Scrupulous. Unwavering. They gave parts of themselves in order to breathe life into these characters. It’s a combination of care and commitment and technique. It’s rare. And it’s marvelous. And no matter what you read about this film, nothing, in my humble and admittedly biased opinion (I love these two so much), will be able to properly convey this level of artistry rendered on screen. There’s a million reasons to love this film — and I hope we can have long and meaningful discussions about all 999,998 at a later date. But in the immediate, let us celebrate these two women and the master class they lay bare on this screen.

This reaction is becoming annoying. Can someone be good and *not* be the best thing that’s ever happened ever???

Christ!

[quote]Wow! We're getting a whole new Wicked musical.

Don't know if it was "sing-a-long" performance, but they should incorporate the flying into the Broadway show they did in Brazil. So much better than the cheap forklift effect.

One thing that's very clear from all that BWW chat about GYPSY's first preview: You'll be taking your chances on whether or not you'll see Audra performing on any given night.

R58, do you mean because people are saying that the role is very challenging for her vocally? I think anyone with any knowledge of Audra's performance history could have guessed that it was only a matter of time before she started missing performances in GYPSY, and/or an alternate was announced. And probably a fairly short amount of time, at that.

R56 Yes, I agree.

It's the Beyonce effect. It can't just be very good, or entertaining. It must be described as a thing that rearranged pop culture or popular music in its entirety, forever.

I googled Dusa, Fish, Stas and Vi to hopefully find out something about the NY production, which I think ran at the Public, but couldn't find a thing other than the briefest synopses of the plot.

If anyone finds more or remembers the off-Broadway production, please let me know. Like the cast and director - who were they? I think it was not same as the LA Taper production.

r59, yes, that's exactly what I mean. Who wants to spend hundreds of dollars for tickets when you don't know if the star will show up?

R50, saying The Rink flopped on Broadway is like saying the Baby Jesus tanked in Bethlehem. How dare you.

Someone at Broadway World said about Audra’s performance that she looked like she was trying to shoplift something at CVS.

R43, (throws towel) Clean it up!

That quote at R55 sounds like badly programmed AI.

Well R58, that was clear when they announced the show.

Maybe Erivo will go everywhere in green face now so people recognise her.

[quote]Who wants to spend hundreds of dollars for tickets when you don't know if the star will show up?

From the moment Audra as Rose was announced, I predicted this would turn out to be a huge problem. She has been known to call out VERY frequently in most of her shows. LADY DAY was a major exception, I assume because in that show she was using her voice in a very different, less taxing way. I imagine what will happen with GYPSY is that she'll soon start calling out, and the production and the press office will do their utmost to somehow try to minimize that, similar to what happened with Lindsay Mendez in MERRILY and the female lead in HELL'S KITCHEN.

R69 Oh! Mary! Why are you fretting about something that hasn't happened?!

R70, because there's every reason to believe it's going to happen, and it's just a question of when.

Isn't that what we are supposed to do here at DL, r70?

Ok, I'll get my handkerchief ready!

Audra is a part time performer, full time diva!

4 shows a week is her absolute max!

It sounds like Audra's performance last night was close to what Betty Lynn tried at Papermill and we know how that turned out.

[quote] do you mean because people are saying that the role is very challenging for her vocally?

No, Sondemites are insufferable and insist every performer sound exactly like the Original Cast. No variation allowed.

[quote]One thing that's very clear from all that BWW chat about GYPSY's first preview: You'll be taking your chances on whether or not you'll see Audra performing on any given night.

On off nights, she'll be doing a medley of "Some People" and "Small World" in the queue at Chipotle.

[quote]That quote at [R55] sounds like badly programmed AI.

Who the hell is Evan Ross Katz anyway? I looked him up and still don't know why I should be listening to him. AI isn't half as vapid as he is.

For anyone who might be interested, Caroline Bowman will play Norma on January 12th. Maybe that's her last day before leaving for Smash rehearsals?

R78 Some YAAAAAS KWEEN queen that somehow made a bit of a tepid career out of her yaaaaasified social media postings.

WTF Audra?????

R81, She's doing the Lansbury thing where she bows after Rose's Turn, thinking there's an audience

The gushing over Wicked is becoming annoying. You just know it's part of the marketing because NOTHING is that amazing.

It looks like she goes completely mad by the end of the number. Instead of Gypsy coming back for her, the men in the white coats do.

R82. Don't all of the Rose's do that?

R81: Why is a "2 x Tony Award and Olivier winning Broadway Producer" filming and posting a clip he filmed mid-performance during a preview? Ghastly behavior!

Rose's what, R85?

The Rose with the absolute worst voice for the role was Bernadette. Rose isn't a kewpie doll

I have to take Broadway break for a while. Everything is just okay but costs an arm and a leg

R88 wait until you hear Audra. Rose’s Turn and Everything’s Coming Up Roses from last night leaked on Tik Tok and it’s as bad as they say.

I don’t see how she survives this role. Her voice sounded ROUGH at the last half o Everything’s Coming Up Roses.

The producers have to be shitting their pants.

Her standby is a no-name, Jesus lover (according to her Instagram) and people will demand refunds.

How does this make any money??!??

Well, Audra is no Liv Ullman.

Oh, that clip was Audra? I thought it was Tyler Perry.

I’m surprised that the producers didn’t stump out for someone like Heather Headley (who’d be a slam dunk in the part) as Audra’s standby.

I'd pay to see that, R93.

R93. Heather lives in Chicago.

She can fly!

That's a bit unfair, given she's receiving a standing ovation in that clip. To stay in character while filling for time requires a bit of extra stage business that can look a little "extra". It probably would be smarter for Audra to freeze in that moment as if time is standing still for Rose in her delusional fantasy world. The story can begin again (conclude) when the audience shuts up.

^ replying to R84.

R88, “kewpie doll”? You must be a thousand years old.

It's not that she's playing to an invisible audience, it's that she seems mentally impaired. And Rose is not that.

Uh, Rose has some rather severe mental/emotional issues. She's a fuckin' mess.

The real Rose, really was a monster. The Gypsy version of Rose is, she's a pushy but loving stage mom; a mac truck, but one with HEART!

Rose bowing at the end doesn't necessarily mean she's "crazy"....she's fantasizing about being a star and that's what stars do at the end of their big number. The maniacal way some actresses play that moment, does suggest Rose they're choosing to play Rose as having "some issues".

[quote]She can fly!

Can she defy gravity?

Rose bowling?

Ucla football sucks.

[quote][R88], “kewpie doll”? You must be a thousand years old.

You have never heard the words “kewpie doll" in reference to Bernadette Peters, r99?

What are you, 12?

I remember seeing the first performance of Patti in Gypsy at City Center and being impressed at how polished it was. They probably had a fraction of the rehearsal time the current production had. Laura and Boyd were already there and, despite some visible nerves and a few flubs, Patti was still great. The performance itself was smooth and tight and the audience loved it. Audra and company have three weeks to pull it together and I hope they get there.

[quote]Audra and company have three weeks to pull it together and I hope they get there.

But, according to the few reports we have so far, the issues have nothing to do with the show needing time to be pulled together, Instead, they're all about Audra's vocal unsuitability for the role.

Count me as someone else who questions why anyone would hire George Wolfe to direct anything at this point. As far as I can tell, he had ONE great success in his career, a few middling successes, several disappointments, and several huge flops. Plus, he did almost run The Public Theater into the ground. So I guess one has to look beyond his track record for other reason(s) why he still gets work.

[quote]What are you, 12?

Not the best response when someone's accusing you of being ancient

OMG R81 she looks demented and also fat, not that that's a bad thing......... Flop anyone?

“Demented and Fat” - a memoir by Audra McDonald.

Mama Rose is also neurodivergent.

Wasn't Madame Rose also lesbionic?

Yup.

And, possibly murderous.

R104, of course I understand the tired reference to a doll from the early 1900s. Your bitchery must have been the height of sophistication in 1974.

[quote] Your bitchery must have been the height of sophistication in 1974.

Oh, I doubt that, r113.

my rose is turning, mama, it burns, mama, it burns!

Looking at that video of Audra, I’m happy my seat is far far from the stage

Whatever you may think of Audra's vocal abilities, she's a pretty limited actress. I spent the entire season of Lady Day's run shocked at the rapturous response she got over playing Billie Holiday when in truth, she sounded like JZ Knight channelling Ramtha.

Ah, there’s always someone who insists that EVERYONE ELSE is deluded. In r117’s case, they know better than six seasons of Tony voters.and ten seasons of Tony nominators. More than Stephen Sondheim and Terrence McNally and George C. Wolfe. Calling the most awarded stage actor “limited” certainly is a choice, though not an especially flattering one.

Oh stop. Audra’s one of this generation’s great stage actresses

R119

-Audra Ann

R117. Agreed. Audra is not a great actor. Watch her on The Gilded Age and see Denee Benton blow her off the screen in their scenes together.

In that clip, she seems to be channeling the young Helen Keller.

Re George Wolfe, didn't he come out of retirement for this? Maybe he realized he was tapped out.

Huh, r122, while you see Helen Keller I see Eleanor Roosevelt.

I don't see anything at all.

How can you possibly fuck up Gypsy?

Georgie Wolfe never met a stage show he couldn't fuck up. I have no respect for the idiotic decision to hire him. Listening, Tom?

I saw two guys get up and leave early at Swept Away last night. Quite a number of empty orchestra seats too.

My favorite George C Wolfe story is that Elaine Stritch had him come to a run through rehearsal of her newest club act after their success with At Liberty.

He stayed for 20 minutes, told Elaine he had vertigo, had to go lay down, and never returned.

R85 all the Rose's what?

"to go lay down"

Oh, dear.

Tom Kirdahy is such a sweet guy but as a producer, he's too hands off, too starry-eyed, and allows directors like Stro (NY, NY, anyone?) and Wolfe free rein and does nobody, especially his investors any favors. He has no vision.

I long for the bygone days of David Merrick, Kermit Bloomgarden, Alexander Cohen and Saint-Subber. Producers with a singular passion who had a strong point of view and weren't afraid to express it.

[quote]Break a leg or I'll break it for you.

When did Megan Hilty get so fat? At least Audra can blame encroaching old age.

[quote]The Rose with the absolute worst voice for the role was Bernadette. Rose isn't a kewpie doll

That’s ridiculous. Bernadette didn’t use a “kewpie doll” voice for Rose. She sounded great. Her “Rose’s Turn” was one of the best ever. As opposed to Patti, who had the “typical” Rose belt but played the whole evening like she was still pissed off about losing the Tony to Joanna Gleason.

Heard they abandoned the strobe light change of the cast from kids to teens which is ridiculous as it is one of the greatest stage magic effects in musical history.

🚨‘Wicked’ debuted with a $46.7M Friday opening which is more than the highest grossing movie musical of all time Frozen 2 which debuted with $42.5M 👀

Frozen 2 went on to gross $1.5 billion at the box office.

I have mixed feelings about the spectacular success of the WICKED movie. One the one hand, I'm thrilled for Stephen Schwartz and many of the other people involved, and of course, it's always great news when a movie musical is received so well by the general public, especially an adaptation of a Broadway show. On the other hand, it's too bad that this will be perceived as a huge feather in the cap of the hateful Cynthia Erivo. But it does seem likely that she'll continue to sabotage her own career, so maybe I can look forward to that.

Is Erivo gay?

Will young girls start wearing large nose rings in imitation of their new idol? How does one explain that fashion choice? I really don't get it. Is it some sort of tribute or memorial to enslaved people?

Asshole.. Shut up.

It’s jewelry dumbshit.

I'd rather see Sutton's" Rose" instead of Audra's.

Omg. Your lips to my tormented ears, still bleeding from Sutton’s grating take on “My White Knight.” Hard pass.

I travel a lot for work and listen to Sirius/XM Hits One hours a day while driving and this afternoon they actually included an edited version of “Defying Gravity” into the rotation… when’s the last time a genuine Broadway song (albeit the movie soundtrack) was on the actual radio? I don’t even remember Hamilton getting much radio play. No question, Wicked is a blockbuster.

It'll be interesting to see if the Wicked movie leaves any lasting impression on culture once the Universal payola dries up.

R144, you do realize that "My White Knight" and, well, ANY song in GYPSY have very different demands, right?

Upper West Side teenager is trying to fight ageism in theater:

Visitors to Death Becomes Her.....

R147, yeah I’ve seen both shows and both actresses plenty of times. Sutton is a soap opera/sitcom level actor and the kind of singer you pluck out of the chorus for a short solo line. The demands of Gypsy are far beyond her, even if she can belt as gratingly as La Lupone. Talent for the deaf, blind, and dumb.

huh

Looking back at their performances in the final scene(s) now, I'm starting to wonder if Patti's Rose was overpraised and Bernadette's was underappreciated. Patti's performance seems so manic and frenzied and bordering on demented. Bernadette's breaks my heart (and, occasionally, makes me laugh ruefully.)

PATTI...

VS. Bernadette...

Word is that Patti's performance as Rose varied wildly in quality from one show to another, for whatever reasons. She was awful when I saw her, indicating all over the place, and with all of her physical and vocal mannerisms on full display. I actually thought she was better in the City Center run, although her performance then was hampered by that ridiculously non-period wig or hairstyle.

Pick a Rose...

R152, did you see both performances?

Choice after, Patti was exactly what you’d expect from her and very loud about doing it. She ended the show clawing at the scenery as the curtain came down.

Bernadette crafted each moment very specifically, and often in ways that made the material seem brand new. As the show progressed, I felt her desire to live through her children was heartbreaking rather thab vicious. She ended the show as a women with greatness who has been shattered by life.

Incidentally, after watching bootlegs of both shows after I saw them. It became clear to me that video doesn’t even begin to capture what happens in a theater. Not the same at all.

^”Choice after choice, Patti”

Year after year, older and older. Patti gets loud, Bernie gets bolder.

Bernadette got a bum rap early on when she got sick and missed shows. She's a true pro since a kid and wouldn't miss if she didn't have to. But a certain theatre writer of Murdoch had it out for her and attacked her every chance he could.

R159. I love Bernadette but her numerous absences from The Goodbye Girl put a target on her back. The rumors that she wanted out of the show started during the out of town tryout.

R160 I don’t blame her. She had bum material and a ham for a co-star who was still getting better notices.

[quote]Talent for the deaf, blind, and dumb.

Leave me out of this.

-- R125

Peters' Rose (which I saw in previews and then again after it opened) wasn't entirely successful, but it was fresh and interesting throughout, as was the entire production.

LuPone's Rose (which I saw at Ravinia and on Broadway) was unsubtle and self-serving.

R152, stop! STOP STOP STOP!!! Who do you think you are? WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE??? Get out! Get out! That's right YOU! Get out!!!

Let's start again......

Bitch all ya want, but who got the Tony? That's right, dolls!

It was a pity Tony.

The one and only Peters/Gypsy bootleg in circulation is from an early preview and it's terrible.

Peters was a great disappointment for me when I saw her do her GYPSY song on the Tony Awards.

Ugh.

Any word on who's replacing our favorite hustler turned broadway darling Cole Escola?

Oh Mary: I thought I heard Melissa Mccarthy wanted to in an earlier thread? God, Bernadette Peters could be

Gypsy was really good and I can imagine sound and other tech issues being improved soon. I was pleasantly surprised as a Patti fan.

Audra sounds great and is more down to earth in the book scenes with the kids, not just a raging monster. She, in fact, sounds much better than that early tiktok clip floating around. I loved her Rose's Turn. I understand that her voice and some key changes/choices may sound odd if you want a traditional belter. My only tiny disappointment was Tulsa's scene. Tony Yazbeck really killed that in the previous version and I liked that choreography better.

Tammy Faye was shockingly dull. Left at intermission, but I thought people were exaggerating how boring it was. The music completely left my brain, when I can usually remember some new songs at shows.

I don't understand some of the accent choices, emphasis on other evangelicals, etc. Strange book, disappointing music, it wasn't even fun bad. Brits don't always understand American religious culture and what is funny or amusing to us.

I don’t even understand why people are obsessed with Tammy Faye. That film was bad enough.

[quote]I don’t even understand why people are obsessed with Tammy Faye.

They clearly aren't, based on the ticket sales. The movie also only made about ten dollars, Chastain's Oscar notwithstanding.

A friend has tickets to see Gypsy in preview this week. I am so jealous. Seeing Audra in this work? Yes please.

R163, my two main memories of the Peters “Gypsy”. I sat next to Marilyn Horne at the invited dress (sheer coincidence; she wasn’t in my group) During the overture (which apparently the audience talks through in the Audra production), the audience was incredibly reverent, even applauding as each famous song was introduced. When the conductor got to “Small World” and the melody soars into the bridge (“We have so much in common, it’s a phenomenon…), Marilyn starting unconsciously humming along in her glorious mezzo.

The queen in front of her snapped his head around and hissed, “Shut. UP!!!” 😂

During the applause, I tapped him on the shoulder and said, “Nice going, girl… you just told Marilyn Horne to stick a sock in it.”

My other memory was Bernadette climbing onto a rickety chair to get the plaque down at the end of “Some People” and thought, “That’s a great way to kill the momentum of a number… or even the leading lady!

[quote]Brits don't always understand American religious culture

I'm an American and I don't EVER understand American religious culture.

R173, I meant the creators.

Had to google Marilyn Horne.

[quote]Had to google Marilyn Horne.

Of course you did, r178...sigh.

[quote]I sat next to Marilyn Horne ... she wasn’t in my group)

For which she was eternally grateful

I don't believe I've ever been to a production of GYPSY where the audience talked through the overture.

Who talks through the Gypsy overture??? VULGARIANS! THAT'S WHO!

^^^R180, a bitchy comment is fine if it's funny. But your comment wasn't REMOTELY funny, just bitchy, and therefore unwelcome and unnecessary.

Seems I struck a nerve.

[quote]The music completely left my brain, when I can usually remember some new songs at shows. '

How dare you! Elton John sacrificed an entire 90 minutes of his life to write that score!

I've heard the PRADA score is relatively better, for whatever that's worth.

Better than what, r186?

It's ridiculous that gay men couldn't create a tragicomedy camp classic out of the Tammy Faye story. I mean, if the show is BORING you've failed on every level.

But it seems the problem is the Tammy Faye creators couldn't land on a consistent tone and avoided camp whenever possible.

R189 Which explains why it's boring.

Tammy Faye and her story IS tragicomedy camp!!! There's really no way to tell that story without those elements.

'Hillbilly yokels from Saint Olaf meet at bible college and form a Christian puppet show which grows into a multi million dollar tv ministry involving fraud and infidelity. The leading man cries a lot and seems hella gay despite affairs with bimbo women. The leading lady wears a lot of make up and cries a lot and talks like a baby. They divorce, she becomes a cult icon for being kind hearted while wearing a lot of makeup. She dies a long, lingering horrifying death. The End."

[quote]Seems I struck a nerve.

No, I think you struck an iceberg :-)

[QUOTE]R 152, did you see both performances?

R156 - Unfortunately not. I only made my first trip to NY in the 2010s, so, for Gypsy and so many other classics I have to rely on recordings and oral/written histories from wonderful Eldergays. Speaking of which, LOVED your comments contrasting Patti and Bernadette's performances. Beautifully, and succinctly, summarized. Muah!

Sally Fields for the next round of Oh, Mary!

I was fortunate to see Angela Lansbury in Gypsy (twice!) in the mid-70s Broadway revival. Unlike Ethel Merman and most Roses since, she made the character charming and seductive....until that final scene. A brilliant and disarming performance that's never been outdone, as far I've seen.

Tyne was good but very predictable (I remember the explosive trumpet in the Overture more than anything else). Patti was all surface, no shading, no surprises. I regret I didn't see Bernadette but the gossip was so off-putting whether deserved or not. Imelda (on TV) was just dreadful (and I'm an Imelda fan). I do hope to see Audra.

The part of the Tammy Faye story that doesn’t ring true is that she didn’t know anything about the fraud and she was just some baby-woman who lived a life of luxury but was clueless as to what was going on. It doesn’t even work as a characterisation, which Chastain proved to her own detriment.

Imelda was great. I saw her on stage. Don’t know what this tv version was all about. She didn’t torture herself, which is what the gays in NYC expect, she just got on with playing the character. NY audiences are as responsible as the players for these maudlin interpretations of the role, distorting it beyond credibility just because someone once remarked she was the Medea of musical theatre or whatever. LuPone, of course, took that to an incoherent extreme with her scenery-licking, cringe-worthy performance of Rose’s Turn. And they all try to outdo or capture what Angie did but, of course, she was British so her performance was all about an innate reserve and restraint that none of them can copy.

Broadway needs to put Gypsy away for about three decades and find some other classic to ruin and beat into the ground.

r196 - Oh please. Like you'll be around in three decades.

R196, I salute you. I saw Imelda twice in two weeks at the urging of Hal Prince. She was BRILLIANT in the theatre. On television, not so much, but not her fault?

You know who fucked up the video of that production? That hack of a director Lonny Price. He had the cameras up everyone’s nostrils. He needed to step away about six feet…

And I adore Lonny… at dinner, because he’s clever and smart. For television. , but he’s now ruined Candide, Sweeney, and Gypsy.

I like him MUCH BETTER as a performer, because that’s where his talent is.

Speaking of people leaving at intermission, I saw “Waiting for Godot” yesterday at the Geffen in Los Angeles

It was a great production of this brilliant play, but it’s still Godot

R152 muah?!

Mwah!

I love how we are being lectured on the natural restraint of the British. As recently demonstrated by Eddie Redmayne and Gayle Rankin.

[quote]I'd rather see Sutton's" Rose" instead of Audra's.

No, Sutton is "Mame".

I thought Imelda (live) had every quality Rose needed but charm.

THANK YOU, R201. What the fuck WERE those performances? Or that production???

R194, Bernadette was a revelation. Sexy, nuanced, desperate, charming, angry, and funny. She was fantastic. And her performance continued to grow. By the end of the run, she was fascinating.

She and that production were harmed by Laurents and her illness. One performance I saw, her understudy took over at intermission. She was very ill. Michael Reidel couldn’t stop talking about it in the press, suggesting she was missing shows because she was lazy, scared, and/or knew she was miscast. But she was pretty sick.

She absolutely should have won the Tony — particularly over Marissa in Hairspray. But Reidel and the gossips did her in. If you can find a boot, do. She was a sensation.

The less said about Lupone’s performance, the better. No nuance, no humor. Just steamroller Patti.

I was at Audra’s first preview. She’s giving a spectacular performance. No, the songs don’t quite fit in her soprano — but that’s only because we’re used to hearing it ala Merman. It all worked (and worked well) for me. Only Goldstone disappoints. They’ll fix that.

But, Audra. A full out musical comedy performance — I’d argue the best performance in Broadway right now. I cannot wait to go back.

Has Audra ever been funny?

Surprise, surprise, Oh, Mary! has recouped.

THIS DAY IN BROADWAY HISTORY: In 1949, "Texas, Li'l Darlin'" opened at the Mark Hellinger Theatre.

R206, I was actually a little worried about that. Because, no. But she nails the comedy in GYPSY. She is very funny.

MARY!

[quote]Sally Fields for the next round of Oh, Mary!

Oh, dear.

Andy Randells has been MARKED DOWN!

Amy Sedaris would be my not particularly imaginative pick if Oh, Mary! extends with a replacement.

I saw Peters in GYPSY in the preview just before it opened. She seemed shockingly miscast. Her voice was completely wrong. The best thing about that production was the overture, which energized the audience. It was all downhill after that. I heard Peters apparently improved during the run, but I never saw her again.

Lupone, however, was a revelation to me. She brought so much humor and warmth (believe it !) to the role that she instantly became my favorite Rose. I adore Audra so I'm really looking forward to her rendition.

[quote] I understand that her voice and some key changes/choices may sound odd if you want a traditional belter.

The keys were lowered for Lansbury's Rose, so I'm sure Audra will be fine.

I’m sorry but Amy Sedaris would be a horrible choice for this role.

Why can’t another man do it?

R205, most of your post sounds very thoughtful and sensible, except for this:

[quote]I was at Audra’s first preview. She’s giving a spectacular performance. No, the songs don’t quite fit in her soprano — but that’s only because we’re used to hearing it ala Merman.

We're used to hearing it a la Merman because that's the way those songs were written by Styne and Sondheim and were intended to be sung, by someone with a "Broadway belt" type of voice. Although no one who has played the role since Merman sounded quite like her, they all had voices that fit that general category, whereas Audra does not. She CAN belt when she wants to, and has done so in the past, but in order to move the GYPSY score into her natural belt range, it would have to be taken way down, which apparently has not been done.

[quote]The keys were lowered for Lansbury's Rose.

Not sure what you mean by that. When GYPSY originally opened with Merman, the keys of her songs were the ones we hear on the cast album, but Merman had some vocal difficulties at some point during the run and the keys were lowered at that point. In fact, some or all of the keys in the full published piano/vocal score are the lower ones. I'm not sure that anyone since Merman has sung those songs in the keys we hear on the album, but at any rate, it's not accurate to say that the keys were lowered for Lansbury.

I'm open to other voice types singing iconic roles.

I saw a more tender, introspective Evita is London's Regent Park (The West End transfer was curtailed by the pandemic). Samantha Pauly, who sang Evita, has a formidable voice but not one since Lupone has had the steel we usually associate with the role, Pauly was still incredible and breathed new life into Eva Peron.

To my knowledge, only two other performers have used the keys heard on the cast recording. Patti did Small World in the original key at Ravinia, Betty Lynn did Rose's Turn in the original key at Carnegie Hall.

[quote]I'm open to other voice types singing iconic roles.

Absolutely....as long as the other type of voice is suited to what the composer wrote. And many people seem to feel that a pretty, trained soprano-ish sound is inappropriate for any of Rose's music, even the one or two songs that could be described as ballads.

“Keys lowered” is the Eldergay phrase for “it was better in my time”…

—The song does not remain the same… oy vey.

I just feel like there are so many potential minefields in terms of doing Gypsy with a Black actress. It would have to be really intelligently done to be “successfully” colour conscious and that would almost certainly require textual changes and explicit staging choices. Does the production do any of that?

Even comedy stuff like the terrible acts Rose cooks up are going to hit different - watching a Black girl singing about how she’s decided she’s going to be truly happy staying on the, um, farm? It’s so “I wish I was in Dixie” you can’t play it for straightforward laughs.

^Oh, god. Please don’t go here again.

It's a farm, r223, not a plantation. Go troll elsewhere.

Did anyone see "Redwood" at La Jolla? Is it as boring as it sounds?

24 hours to go in the Chita Rivera auction and many of the items have not come close to hitting the low end of their estimates. Granted, some of the lots feel like they just cleaned out a drawer and bundled everything in it together, but I can't imagine the beneficiary of the estate is happy with how the auction house ran this whole thing.

The Hirschfelds have fared the best in terms of exceeding their estimates, as was probably to be expected.

One of the oddest lots, linked below, is a bundle of branches from the set of "The Visit." No bids yet. They can be yours for $10.

R227. They should have listed everything on eBay instead.

[quote] I just feel like there are so many potential minefields in terms of doing Gypsy with a Black actress. It would have to be really intelligently done to be “successfully” colour conscious and that would almost certainly require textual changes and explicit staging choices. Does the production do any of that?

Who cares? We're all going to see Audra sing GYPSY. Period

These threads are terrible. If the theatre crowd is this rotten and racist and in some cases Repiblican, you deserve all the shit the Trump admin has in store for you.

I love the idea that LuPone's next cabaret act would be titled, Steamroller Patti. Well, "Steamroller Patti!" seems better.

If only Forbidden Broadway were around to put the act together. They've spoofed her a number of times, but Steamroller Patti!? Not yet. Fingers crossed.

R223 stay in the UK and spare us your feelouings. No one gives a rat’s ass about your view of the American classics.

No Brit would understand that there were actually Black framers in America🙄. Nor Black vaudevillians.🫣. Nor Blacks and whites who interacted in the first half of the 20th C. 🥴

farmers*

(And framers)

[quote]Andy Randells has been MARKED DOWN!

Oh, dear.

Are there any short audio leaks of Audra yet?

Apparently, the great Helen Gallagher has died. Should I start a thread/ Will anyone know who she was?

Hazel Flagg

Any reports on Camille A. Brown's new, non-Robbins choreography for Gypsy?

I’ve never seen Wicked and don’t plan to buy all this marketing and promotion made me curious as to what it is all about so I read the synopsis at Wikipedia.

That’s a fuck of a lot of story. It has everything except for a free-wheeling patio number.

[quote]It has everything except for a free-wheeling patio number.

That was cut in San Francisco.

Still alive-

-Wiki

r235 "Andy Randells" was a thing for a while (like Lens Dunham.) So not really "oh,dear"-worthy.

So was I, R241.

Lens Dunham is a classic.

Andy Randells...not so much.

R244. You were cut in Toronto, too

Poor Bobby Morse suffered in his final years.

Well, yeah -- two circumcisions as an adult?

No one wants that shit R227. More clutter.

I wonder what Bernadette's feelings are about the Gypsy experience. Unlike that other Sicilian, she keeps her cards close to her vest and rarely seems to be willing to share her true feelings.

R233, you completely missed the point that the other poster was trying to make.

I got the point just fine. Take a hike.

Bernadette took a pay cut to keep Gypsy running a few more months. It's too bad Laurents didn't direct her. Things might have turned out differently. Didn't Mendes throw out most of the scenery during rehearsals? I remember that being a pretty bare production. Tammy Blanchard and John Dosset were great though.

Gavin Creel Memorial Celebration To Be Livestreamed In The U.S. And UK:

Lonny Price = hack.

[quote]Bernadette took a pay cut to keep Gypsy running a few more months.

Who are you, her accountant?

R256 Arthur Laurent’s actually spilled those beans on theatre talk. Not only did she take a pay cut she gave up her whole salary to keep Gypsy running.

Michael Reidel, who had shit on Bernadette for months was speechless when Laurents said it.

You can see how devastated she is at the curtain call. You can also see how much the cast adores her.

Thank you, r258. When she said. “I just wanted to be noticed,” almost like a child, it was the point of the entire show. Peters’ Rose wasn’t bombastic and tastelessly brash, much to the disappointment of the 2003 yas-queen crowd. She approached the character thoughtfully from beginning to end, and I found the performance heartbreaking.

Mendes’ track record stands up well against Laurents’. I’m trying to imagine a Laurents’ Ferryman.

Has Michael Riedel done anything useful in his life? No? I thought so.

I'm generally supportive of good solid criticism and writing......but Reidel has always seemed like a cunt of the highest order - just for the hell of it - and a conservative one to boot.

Haven't seen Audra's Rose yet, but of the ones I've seen in person, I'd rank them thusly:

1. Bernadette 2. Imelda 3. Patti

I saw Bernadette late in the run. She was spectacular. Imelda in person was terrific. Never say the televised version that everyone seems to hate. Patti I don't really remember except that she was sufficient. And I like Patti.

Arthur Laurents was a terrible director. He had no talent in that area, and he only turned to directing when his talent as a writer dried up. If one or two shows he directed turned out well, in my opinion that was in spite of his direction, rather than because of it.

Or, as Mary Rodgers put it, "I never thought of him as a director."

R260, Riedel has written two excellent, serious, full-length books on the theater. To read them, you would never believe they were written by the same person who wrote those gossip column in the Post. I guess Riedel realized he was good at writing gossip, and that's what the Post and, apparently, a lot of the public wanted, so he sold out and complied.

Arthur Laurents was the cuntiest cunt who every cunted…but his worst quality was “I’m right about everything”

The problem was he was mostly correct.

He was correct about Wicked when he told the creators to cut it down to the two girls.

Were it not for that…I think the story would be much more muddled than it already is.

I've long badmouthed Peters' Rose, but that scene above was just terrific. Not sure that's the performance I witnessed live.

r263, I had a business connection to Riedel's sister a few years back, who said that he felt imprisoned by the persona he created of the vicious gossip monger, but that's where the money was. His two books confirmed that he is an excellent journalist, but the stain of his Post days is hard to shake.

Not "mostly correct," R264. Sometimes correct, sometimes way off base. Like, for example, Laurents' weird reinterpretation of WEST SIDE STORY for that 2009 revival. Some of the things he said about the characters, and made the actors do, were totally nutso.

Another example: I recently watched THE WAY WE WERE for the first time since the movie was released, and while it certainly has its moments, there are TOO FUCKING MANY SCENES that focus on Streisand and Redford solely or primarily, and in a very redundant way. Also, the structure of the last part of the movie is inept -- the scene of Katie and Hubbell being reunited years later takes place only a few moments after their previous scene together in the movie, so there is no sense of absence and reunion, and the moment is nowhere near as powerful as it would have been otherwise.

That said, yes of course, Laurents wrote two great musical theater books for WSS and GYPSY, but again, I'm criticizing him as a director here, not as a writer.

I thought Laurents directed the original La Cage beautifully. The revivals that followed were crap and went for cheap laughs.

If we can agree that good directing includes good casting, I would say Laurents definitely did NOT direct the original LA CAGE beautifully, because at least two of the leads were horribly miscast: George Hearn, who was great in other things but all wrong for Albin, even if he won a Tony for his performance, and that kid who did such an embarrassingly awful job of playing and singing the role of Jean-Michel, who was never heard from again.

SOrry, I have to agree that Laurents was a terrible director. (That includes the original La Cage.) Actually, his direction of WSS and Gypsy seemed to be saying "I know better than Robbins" as he ruined all the great moments that Robbins created. They both were terrible men, but Robbins was a genius.

The Riedel books are useful as a one-stop collection of Broadway information, but I don't know if I actually learned anything from them.

Agreed 100 percent, R270. One of the most idiotic things Laurents did for that WSS revival was that he insisted all humor be removed from "Gee, Officer Krupke," using the argument that these kids are "killers" and would not be able to find even ironic humor in their lives and situation. Of course, the whole point of the show, which Laurents himself co-wrote, is that the Jets (and Sharks) are NOT natural killers and never quite realized that the leaders of their respected gangs could be killed in the rumble.

"Maybe Happy Ending" up to $591k last week, with 78% capacity and $94.95 average ticket price. Will it make it?

"Tammy Faye" was at 40% capacity. "Swept Away" also not looking too hot.

The average tourist hasn't heard much about Maybe Happy Ending and Swept Away so will avoid them

There's no way that Left on Tenth makes it to February.

It looks very personal and unique.

R258 - did you mean to post another video? That's Bernadette's final scene in Gypsy (and, I agree, it's a masterclass -- she's sublime there!) But, there's no curtain call in that video that you're alluding to.

R260 - While Riedel could be scummy gossip rag hack, yes, I think he actually did make a fine contribution to industry with the longrunning TheaterTalk. His co-host (Susan something?) was an utterly useless post-menopausal mumbler. And while, yes, he could be a bit brash or cutting even on the show, he displayed a great deal of knowledge and insight on there too. He had in depth interviews with theatre figures that would not have aired anywhere else and captured some oral histories that would, otherwise, be lost to time. And, yes, his books are a very entertaining read!

R272 no. Matt was the idiotic choice.

As my bitchy friend whispered as the first act curtain went down: can’t g the get kill Tony now?!

can’t they kill*

Since Laurents didn't direct The Way We Were, it's hard to blame him for some of the movie's flaws. I suspect Sidney had a heavy hand in the final cut.

Agree that Theater Talk was a provocative and newsy show, unlike it's unofficial successor, All the Moving Parts. Patrick Pacheco is a lame-ass host.

Okay dolls! I have tickets to see the Court Theatre of Chicago’s production of Falsettos.

Am I in for a good show or a shitshow?

In the end, Chita's Tonys went for $70k (Spider Woman) and $25k (The Rink), both prices including the buyer's premium.

Good for her…ashes.

I thought there was a chance Maybe Happy Ending + Swept Away could both make it to New Years or even mid-January but I'm not sure now.

Maybe Happy Ending is a small show so it doesn't need SRO audiences to survive. 78% isn't a blockbuster but it's sufficient to run as long as the nut is met.

Swept Away is not going to make it. The audience for a show that dark is limited. Plus, with the election, it’s even worse timing for bleak theater.

Standing O's for Audra:

Sorry, I meant to say SRO, not standing O's (though I'm sure she's getting those, too).

ABC’s Wicked TV Miniseries: Whatever Happened to It?

I agree that whatever one thinks of Riedel, Theater Talk was a gem. I used to really look forward to it late on a Friday night and was sorry to see it end.

I read Left on Tenth and it was a pleasant enough read but eesh, nothing in that book screamed "This needs to be a play!"

Of course that's true, R280, but Laurents still wrote the screenplay -- or, I should say, overwrote the screenplay.

The casting of Matt Cavenaugh in that WSS has got to be one of the most embarrassing pieces of casting in Broadway history. First of all, Laurents chose him to play Tony after previously making a HUGE deal about how he was going to cast the show with performers who were actual teenagers or just a couple of years beyond, but then apparently he fell in love (or lust) with Cavenaugh, and gave him the role even though he was 31 at the time. On top of that, Cavenaugh was a very limited talent, especially as an actor. And on top of THAT, there arose the situation -- well documented by Michael Riedel -- that Laurents then soured on Cavenaugh big time when Cavenaugh not only didn't return his affections but, further, announced his engagement to a woman.

As often happens when someone is cast for all the wrong reasons, getting the role turned out to be no favor for Cavenaugh. Quite the opposite. Not only was his performance in the production poorly received, but also, the backlash plus Laurents' outrageous behavior was enough to end the poor guy's Broadway career. What a debacle.

[quote]t it's sufficient to run as long as the nut is met.

I’m sure Darren Criss is doing his utmost to make sure the nut is met.

And how's this for irony: Here's a link to a photo of Matt Cavenaugh, apparently taken during the curtain call of WEST SIDE STORY, that mistakenly identifies him as "attending" the opening night performance.

Well, for that show, it might have been better for all concerned if had been in the audience, rather than on stage.

Here's that final performance curtain call from Bernadette Peters' "Gypsy."

R296 that is someone who is beloved by her company.

I think a certain other Italian musical star…should take note.

Hills of California has been another flop this season.

RIP Helen Gallagher

R296 - aw. That's very sweet.

When she's on, Bernadette really can cut to the bone with these characters in a deeply emotional way.

I heard her interviewed somewhere recently -- I think on a podcast? -- and the interviewer asked her a somewhat 'throwaway' question about whether she was a largely optimistic person and I was surprised to hear her say "No." I'm paraphrasing, but she said something about how she's not generally a glass half full person. I think her sometimes sunny demeanor and her sense of humor might be somewhat of a facade and how she's able to tap into some deep wells of emotion in roles like Rose, Sally, Desiree, Dot, The Witch...

Blues...

Don’t show that Bernadette clip to Patti, aka Jealous Cathy.

Most people who know Helen Gallagher know her from Ryan's Hope where she won multiple Daytime Emmys. But here she is at the Tonys dancing with Gwen Verdon, Donna McKechnie and Paula Kelly.

r302 At least not when she's within striking distance of any stage managers

[quote] RIP Helen Gallagher

I feel she's not going to live forever.

R286 Word is that it costs about 680k-750k a week to run, can’t see it surviving much longer if that’s the case.

R306, the irony is that the show has garnered such a (small) rabid fanbase that completely LOVES the show. Who knows how long it will run but I also suspect it will have a very nice life after Broadway.

Not any woman R293.

Jennifer Powers of Arlington, MA—granddaughter of JFK’s best blowjob buddy Dave Powers. She went off to Northwestern, where she won the Miss Illinois pageant and competed for/did not win Miss America.

Not really here to defend Arthur Laurents but his screenplay for THE TURNING POINT was brilliant. He really understood that world, those characters. I recently re-watched the fil after many years and was pleasantly stunned by how well it stood the test of time.

Correction: Andover, not Arlington.

Apparently Maybe Happy Ending cost around 19 million to mount. 🤦‍♂️

[quote]irony is that the show has garnered such a (small) rabid fanbase that completely LOVES the show

Small rabid fan base? It got almost universal rave reviews.

R312, rave reviews don't always amount to audience adulation. This is a show where fans seem especially connected to.

If there's a glimmer of hope for Maybe Happy Ending, the grosses have slightly increased each week. Still, if it doesn't make money it needs to make in order to operate, it's not making it to Christmas or New Year's Day.

Left on Tenth should've terminated the suspense and announced that it was a limited run at the start. Were they trying to run a whole year?

Swept Away is the one who should be worried. Grosses are going down each week.

The thing about so many of these new Broadway musicals is it's hard to feature a number from the shows on TV that would make tourists want to see them. I think it's also been evident in recent Tony Award telecasts.

[quote]Apparently Maybe Happy Ending cost around 19 million to mount.

How much does it cost to mount Darren Criss?

Shoulnd't Roxie Hart's name be above Sophie Tucker's in that pic at R288?

Dead on, R315. I know that you should never judge a show based on a Tonys performance, but they used to at least be fun to watch.

Nobody is disputing Laurents' talent as a writer, though his later stuff is not always very good. His problem is that he thought he knew everything about everything, particularly directing, and he didn't.

The title Swept Away makes me think of that dreadful Madonna remake and brings up bad memories.

I keep thinking of the Diana Ross song.

Here's what needs to be said about Tammy Faye as a source of a musical: The woman was dumb. Dumb as a box of eye lashes. And we're supposed to care about her? All the great leading lady protagonists -- Dolly, Gypsy, Mame, Elphaba, etc...they are all SMART. They are interesting. I had to live through Tammy Faye and she was nothing but a self-promoting idiot who just did whatever....She didn't understand, she didn't think, she just prattled on and on. And what dipshits thought that was a good idea for a musical. Jesus, we need people with taste back in control of Broadway, not these idiot money people.

Now I wonder how a Tammy Faye musical would have played in 1994, before the revisionist history.

[quote]The thing about so many of these new Broadway musicals is it's hard to feature a number from the shows on TV that would make tourists want to see them.

Which of the new shows are you thinking of? I think SWEPT AWAY has several numbers that would come across very well on TV, especially some of the numbers that come in the early part of the show that involve the male ensemble as well as the leads. For that matter, even TAMMY FAYE has several TV-worthy numbers, although he show overall is terrible. As for MAYBE HAPPY ENDING, there are lots of great songs in that score that could work well out of context, but I suppose it would have to be explained why Darren Criss's movements are so robotic :-)

R277 seems like someone who would have gotten along beautifully with Michael Riedel -- he even matches the misogynistic nastiness MR consistently showed Susan Haskins on the air. Whatever her limitations, she didn't deserve to be treated that way, and I'm astonished that it was allowed to continue week after week.

For once mlop has a good story. Though, nothing to do with Cheets (or the theatre...)

Arthur Laurents had a hot boyfriend and was probably a mean, bitchy fuck.

Bless her heart.

R306 Word from where? Those seem like rather high numbers for a small show with 4 cast members.

Yeah but then there's Michael Arden's piss budget to consider

R326, mlop has told that story before, and it has never made any sense why a security person for that Beatles concert at Carnegie Hall would have gone over to some random person in the audience, ASKED her if she had a camera, and then told her it was okay to take photos after an announcement had been made that anyone caught doing so would be thrown out of the theater. I don't doubt that she took the photos (obviously), but I think at least part of her story must be screwed up somewhow, either because she doesn't remember clearly or it has to do with her usual difficulty in conveying things clearly through the written word :-)

mlop may not always make sense, but she does occasionally make magic.

So will WICKED's Broadway grosses go even higher, once people see the film, realize they don't know the ending, and they can't wait?

^^^^I'm not sure if the grosses could go much higher than they are now, but the demand for tickets will almost certainly increase. Aside from everything else, the movie's success will almost certainly be a boon to the show's box office in January and February, which are typically the slowest months.

Paul Mescal is coming for that Tony award, people.

I missed the part where you could win a Tony for Off-Broadway work.

r331 You keep saying "photos" but I think you mean "pix"

[quote]So will WICKED's Broadway grosses go even higher

It's been sold-out for weeks and it's grossing over $2.5 million. It's already at its limit. I guess they could add an additional performance every week during the holidays.

I saw that Streetcar in London and Mescal was wonderful, but the real star was Patsy Ferran who played Blanche and is also coming over here with it. It seemed revelatory to see a younger Blanche the correct age who drove the play from the moment she walked onstage with a palpable frenetic energy. Not a wilting flower at all. It's done on an almost bare stage with modern clothes except for a few vintage-y dresses worn by Blanche. There's a drummer over the playing area beating a low rhythm throughout many of the scenes.

I'm probably making it sound awful, but I honestly felt like I was watching a new play. So dynamic with incredible youthful energy and sexiness. Frankly, it was so good I wouldn't dare tempt fate and see it again in NY. I'll just keep my memories.

R339 MARY!

(in a good way)

Lol. r340, but it really was the first time I've seen Streetcar and believed those characters were real people.

Thanks, r339. I just got tickets, which seemed like quite a bargain compared to the vehicles for George Clooney, Sarah Snook, and Denzel. As in, I got two tickets for less than a single ticket to any of the others.

R339 you can always tell if a poster is 70+ if they write that play has “sexiness”

I can assure you that no play is ever sexy.

[quote]I can assure you that no play is ever sexy.

Maybe not a whole play. But Anita Morris singing “A Call From the Vatican” in Nine was sexy AND funny.

R344 are you Grover dale? He quit being gay to marry Anita…so it must be so!

ODP is destined to be an EGOOOT: Olivier, Obie, Oscar.

[quote]Anita Morris singing “A Call From the Vatican” in Nine was sexy AND funny.

[quote][R344] are you Grover dale? He quit being gay to marry Anita…so it must be so!

I think that anybody would find Anita sexy and funny in Call From the Vatican.

Anita Morris should have played Lola in Damn Yankees.

Told this before, was young gayling and went to a matinee of a new hit Broadway show called "The Magic Show". Anita had a featured role. Now at the time no one stage door'd but I just happened to be standing by the stage door after the show and boom the door flies open and knocks me a bit. It was Anita and she was so...Oh my, are you alright Darlin"? and we laughed and she gave me a big hug.

Did you know Anita was a finalist to play Cassie in the NY company when McKechnie and company left for LA?

R343 Sorry you see such boring plays.

Personally, I've seen several plays that successfully produced sexual tension.

It's usually achieved via things called good writing, directing and acting.

I don't know but I thought having a young Jude Law stand up in a bathtub full frontal to the audience in "Indiscretions" was sexy. Silly me.

It sure as fuck was.

How many layers of faux-worldly cynicism are needed to not find sexiness in any play?

R343,

You've been going to the wrong plays, honeybreath.

Jude Law with sudsy cock and balls would be an EXCELLENT example and one I happily got to see!!!

Helen is now really dead really, really dead.

As coroner, I must aver, I thoroughly examined her, and she's not only merely dead, she's really most sincerely dead.

There's a very sexy play on Broadway right now: ROMEO + JULIET, which is hot as hell due to the chemistry between Kit Connor and Rachel Zegler but more specifically because Kit's body is amazingly jacked, and he has off-the-charts sexual charisma.

Doesn't matter how jacked the body is if it's got that face on top of it

Mean....but true.

And the body isn't very jacked as far as I can see.

Face looks fine to me.

R360 I posted a mini-review of this a couple of threads back—I thought Kit Connor was excellent, Rachel more weak, personally liked it but wouldn't recommend it to the eldergays—and yes, he's ripped as hell and their chemistry is hot. He's also very, very charismatic on that stage and was the only one with a real mastery of the Shakespearean language. On a less thirsty note, I'm glad for any success story in the middle of such an abysmal season.

That’s not what jacked means^*

R363, then you need to have your exes examined. Seriously.

Thanks for all that extra photographic evidence, R365. While Kit's face is not what I'd call conventionally beautiful, he's very cute in a very British way. And as often happens, his overall attractiveness -- including his face -- has increased exponentially because he is so freaking jacked!

Actually, R366, the meaning of "jacked" I intended is the secondary meaning below:

1. physically or mentally stimulated from the effects of a drug or stimulant. "a race car driver, jacked up on amphetamines"

2. (of a person) having very well-developed muscles. "a dude so jacked you have to wonder if he's freebasing creatine"

Any more of those crazy priced tickets left?

Did anyone win anything from Chits' estate sale?

Wholesome NBC Macys Parade interviews prostitute Cole Escola today!

2. Which means overly-muscled, which he is not.

if kit connor's face isn't for you, maybe his heartstopper co-star's will be. he was in sweeney todd before it closed!

Well, r373 has actually found a cure for homosexuality

Incorrect, R372. As per the definition I myself provided, "jacked" does not necessarily mean "overly muscled," even if some people use it with that intended meaning. The definition I quoted is "having very well-developed muscles," which certainly applies to Kit Connor's smoking hot bod.

"Very"

What a shitty Bway year.

I was looking forward to Sunset Blvd but that turned out to be utter shit.

I’m hoping the Audra Gypsy can save the day. Otherwise there’s nothing particularly interesting to me

Eureka Day is a mess as of last night. Cast very uncertain of their lines. No "character" work or any idea how to interact with other actors. The direction is terrible. The play is slight, but not terrible. It was like watching a late rehearsal.

PS: Jessica Hecht has turned into Frances Sternhagen (not that that is a bad thing).

I can't keep Eureka Day and The Cult of Love straight.

Joe Locke looks like a deformed FAS baby.

R335, Paul Mescal won’t be eligible for the Tony next year because A Streetcar Named Desire will be at BAM, not on Broadway.

R381, I’m over the “London critics adored it” shows that transfer. They all seem to suck once they get to Bway

^^^A point that has already been made, R381, but thanks.

A defined build is not jacked. A jacked body is not necessarily well-defined.

I also saw the London Streetcar. I thought the direction was ridiculous. Not unlike "Sunset Blvd" the director takes the point of view of "I don't give a fuck what this actual story is, I'm going to just do all kinds of FUN STUFF and see what happens." The performances were fine.

R385. Thank you for that. I don’t need to see a new interpretation

Did they add a real streetcar as a coup de théâtre?

Joe Locke is adorable! Much cuter than bland Kit wasshisname.

Posting bad photos of people and saying they're ghastly is a bit unfair. You can take lousy photos of anyone.

R388 You don’t even believe that.

See, r385, I'd really disagree with you on that. This Streetcar is virtually devoid of gimmicks.

It's a practically bare stage with no video, no projections, no heightened musical cues, except for the drumbeat. Nothing to distract from Tennessee's words which suffice to create the world of the French Quarter. Very quickly paced and tense. Really smart acting choices performed by sensational actors who are the right ages for the characters.

Well, there was a rainstorm onstage, but it seemed entirely organic.

Well, will any of the parade numbers or appearances move the box office grosses?

I'm curious, do long-running shows like Book of Mormon, Lion King and Chicago, for example, get invites to march in the parade years after they've opened? Wouldn't that help their box office and also provide some better numbers for the parade than the latest crap that's opening now?

I need to see more of these shows in London. Seriously, even with airfare and hotel (though I have train fare and hotel to NY), it’s cheaper. Jonathan Bailey in Richard II has a top ticket price of £169.

And it’ll be filled with little Elphabas and Galindas.

[quote]Well, there was a rainstorm onstage, but it seemed entirely organic.

Good.

R392, yes, whenever I go to London, I try to catch a few West End shows. You can even buy the tickets ahead of time on Ticketmaster without ANY fees

I just heard Left on Tenth us closing Feb 2nd. Was it always intended to be a limited run? And, more importantly, can it hold on until Feb 2nd?

Les Liaisons Dangereuses with Lindsay Duncan and Alan Rickman on Broadway was incredibly sexy.

Joe Locke has a face like a cat's puckered asshole, and no amount of lighting or camera angles will make that any different.

Did I miss it or was there no discussion here of Shit. Meet. Fan. with DL "faves" Debra Messing and NPH at MCC Theater?

Is anyone ever going to do a proper production of Mame?

It never really worked with that Murder She Wrote person.

Encores should try Mame

R400. Stay tuned!

I keep hearing how cheap the sets and costumes look for this new Gypsy yet find it hard to believe that the producers wouldn't have provided decent budgets for those elements.

damn yankees

That was quite good*

Brilliant interviews with Rae Allen and Shannon Bolin of DAMN YANKEES! Thanks for posting r404!

[quote]I keep hearing how cheap the sets and costumes look for this new Gypsy yet find it hard to believe that the producers wouldn't have provided decent budgets for those elements.

It's "Gypsy", during the dying days of vaudeville and Burlesque. Madame Rose is poor, her sets would be practically cardboard and threadbare clothes. Why would you think it should look like "The Queen of Versailles"?

[quote]I keep hearing how cheap the sets and costumes look for this new Gypsy yet find it hard to believe that the producers wouldn't have provided decent budgets for those elements.

Well, they have a huge star salary to contend with, Plus they probably had it in mind to try to save as much money as possible for when their star begins to call out and tons of audience members demand refunds for that reason.

[quote]It's "Gypsy", during the dying days of vaudeville and Burlesque. Madame Rose is poor, her sets would be practically cardboard and threadbare clothes. Why would you think it should look like "The Queen of Versailles"?

But precisely two scenes in GYPSY depict the vaudeville acts that Rose concocts in actual performance, maybe one or two other scenes show us those acts in rehearsal. Most of the sets for GYPSY are for other scenes -- Rose's home, a strain station, a booking agent's office, etc. That said, I would say the only scenes that really need to have eye-popping sets and costumes are some of Louise's strips towards the end, especially the one for Minsky's.

[quote] Rose's home

There's doing the down and out, homeless GYPSY

She's homeless!

Audra's out there, singing for money.....

La de dee, la di da, la de dee, la di da, la de dee, la di da, la de dee, la di da, la de dee, la di da, la de dee, la di da, la de dee, la di da, la de dee, la di da, la de dee, la di da, la de dee, la di da, la de dee, la di da, la de dee, la di da, la de dee, la di da, la de dee, la di da, la de dee, la di da, la de dee, la di da, la de dee, la di da, la de dee, la di da, la de dee, la di da, la de dee, la di da, la de dee, la di da, la de dee, la di da, la de dee, la di da, la de dee, la di da, la de dee, la di da, la de dee, la di da, la de dee, la di da, la de dee, la di da......

(continue until audience pelts Audra with tomatoes)

Can we just pelt you with tomatoes instead, r410?

Howdya like THOSE tomatoes, Mr. Goldstone?

[quote]Well, they have a huge star salary to contend with, Plus they probably had it in mind to try to save as much money as possible for when their star begins to call out and tons of audience members demand refunds for that reason.

And Chipotle's prices have gone up a lot lately!

I know Audra has a reputation for missing performances but what is that based on?

I've seen her in nearly everything. The only performance I needed a replacement ticket for was Porgy and Bess when she missed because she was sick.

^^^^It's based on her many absences during the runs of several of her shows, not counting A RAISIN IN THE SUN (a non-musical) and LADY DAY but applying to most or all of the others. I recently was told that she even missed frequently during MASTER CLASS, in which as far as I recall she only had to sing one aria per night in addition to her acting scenes.

I believe her attendance record during PORGY AND BESS was the worst. Reportedly, she requested an alternate from the beginning of the run or close to it, but the producers refused, so she then just started to have lots of unscheduled absences. And I do mean LOTS.

Lots and lots? Because you have no actual facts to share.

The sets and costumes in the Tyne Daly Gypsy were also cheap looking (I think they were designed with a lengthy pre Broadway tour in mind) but that just added to the charm of the entire production.

The sets for Imelda's Gypsy looked like they came from a community theatre with a slightly better than average budget. Serviceable, but not much more. And, of course, there were no strings in the orchestra. The show still worked, though (yes, I saw it in London, not just the unfortunate version filmed for TV). Hard to keep a warhorse of a show down.

[quote]I know Audra has a reputation for missing performances but what is that based on?

A desperation to keep referring to Lindsay Mendez

R419, that comment is neither clever nor accurate.

I think our collective fascination with frequent absences stems from this being one of the only places where you can discuss it without absurdly defensive pushback.

It’s worse now because the pricing model is built around star performances. When those stars are out, you still pay the same ridiculously high price and didn’t get to see the star you paid to see.

If you want a refund? You are likely going to pay more to take another chance at maybe seeing the star, maybe from a worse seat.

Broadway is broken, and their answer is selling $900 tickets to see Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal do Othello.

r420 Imagine my utter lack of surprise upon confirming you also posted r69

Will Lindsay Mendez ever star in GYPSY?

R424. She can replace Jinkx Monsoon in the next revival.

Missed performances? Lethargic performances?

No mentions of me? Have I already been foresaken?

R423, I have no idea what you mean, but I've never posted any incorrect information about the unscheduled absence records of Audra McDonald or Lindsay Mendez, or for that matter Maleah Joi Moon in HELL'S KITCHEN

I've never posted any factual or numerical information about the unscheduled absence records. FIFY

^^ that’s directed at the “lots and lots” pusita.

R428. the many unscheduled absences of the performers I mentioned are a matter of public record, even if I don't have the exact figures at my fingertips. I guess you're the sort of person who thinks, "Well, since that star didn't call out when I saw the show, I don't believe and/or just don't care that they called out many times and disappointed many audiences."

Michael Mayer better stop with the Ozempic

Michael Mayer better stop with the directing

[post redacted because independent.co.uk thinks that links to their ridiculous rag are a bad thing. Somebody might want to tell them how the internet works. Or not. We don't really care. They do suck though. Our advice is that you should not click on the link and whatever you do, don't read their truly terrible articles.]

Okay, my post above got partly screwed up due to the link, so here's the part that disappeared:

The following was posted by Michael Cerveris on Facebook, and I have to say, I'm quite surprised at him:

"Eleven more chances to come be moved, delighted, challenged, embraced and baffled why some people worked so hard to convince you that @tammyfayebway wasn’t worth your time. This is one that got away. But you can still catch it."

‘WICKED’ is now the highest grossing musical adaptation of all time at the domestic box office in just 8 days!

The previous record was held by ‘GREASE’ (1978)

AMC 42nd Street is charging $29.68 with fees. Of course it'll make more than a movie from 1978.

Thanks, R436. There's not doubt that the WICKED movie is a phenomenal success, but box office figures that don't adjust for general inflation and the specific inflation in the price of movie tickets obviously don't tell the whole story.

Kiss of the Spiderwoman will smash those Wicked records!!!!

Anyone see CULT OF LOVE?

That U.K. newspaper article about notorious flops (at R433) discreetly omits Lloyd Webber's 'Bad Cinderella' which was a complete fiasco financially and artistically. Perhaps they didn't want to embarrass "Lord" Webber?

Mandelbaum's quote about 'Bring Back Birdie' being possibly “the worst Broadway musical ever to be created by top-level professionals” could easily apply to 'Bad Cinderella', along with another Lloyd Webber disaster, 'Love Never Dies'.

At least Bring Back Birdie got a Tony nomination.

I saw CULT OF LOVE at Berkeley Rep. it’s a really good play. The Bway casting is 50% starry now and about 50% holdovers from Berkeley. It’s a great ensemble piece.

Understudy for Baby June is on tonight at Gypsy. Little bitch playing Baby June already picking up shit from Mama. Or is it Momma?

R443. Slacker

I don't know that I'd call BAD CINDERELLA's Andrew Lloyd Webber, David Zippel and Emerald Fennell "top-level professionals" of the caliber of Charles Strouse, Lee Adams and Michael Stewart. And LOVE NEVER DIES' Lloyd Webber, Glenn Slater, Ben Elton and Frederick Forsyth? Let's not go there.

Charles Strouse had such success in the last 40 years; as well as Lee Adams and Michael Stewart, no? As one supposes ,they are EGOT too? It was so circumstance to meet Emerald among her many awards to do a fun one-off.

Saw Gypsy tonight.

OK, Audra McDonald is a great actress. She acted the shit out of Rose. However, yeah, there’s that thing about her voice. Her lovely soprano undercuts those songs over and over. Her “Rose’s Turn” is brilliant until the climactic “…And everything’s coming up Rose, everything’s coming up Roses” and it’s once again Madam Rose at The Met. I do love her, though.

Danny Burstein was absolute perfection. He nailed all the laughs, the biggest one being in “Together, Wherever We Go” which actually took clever advantage of McDonald’s operatic voice. He was also very powerful in Herbie’s final “I love you but fuck off” scene. Bravo.

Joy Woods as Louise/Gypsy? Just no. A big casting mistake. They should have waited a few months for Denee Benton to be available after The Gilded Age had finished. Benton would have brought charm and wit to Gypsy’s strips. Woods, who has the body of a pubescent boy, was only passable doing a Josephine Baker imitation in the Garden of Eden section. But the funny thing was for someone with “no talent” Louise sure was a great frigging dancer in that.

Lesli Margherita was fucking hilarious as Tessie-the best of all the ones I’ve ever seen since the Lansbury revival in 1974. And I thought Jordan Tyson was fabulous as June. I think there will be divided opinions about her-some will think she’s too over the top. But Tyson’s got a clarion singing voice and can act unlike Woods. And for the very first time it seems Wolfe has managed to achieve what Laurents and Mendes failed to do and that was to give us a hint of whatever acting potential TT Grantziger actually saw in June during her “I can’t go to Broadway with you” speech.

Kevin Csolak does a superb job with “All I Need Is the Girl.” Fantastic character dancing. He got a hand in the middle of it, he’s so damn good.

Great physical production. The set pieces were terrific. I liked that the Wichita train station at the end of Act 1 was set in an empty terminal-I always thought having it set on a platform near the tracks was dumb.

I really did like some of the “choices” for this new production, including giving solos in “Have an Eggroll, Mr. Goldstone” to the others. June even has the “There are goodstones and badstones and curbstones and gladstones…” section.

I’ve seen Nicole Scherzinger. I’ve seen Megan Hilty and Jennifer Simard. I’ve now seen Audra McDonald. And I’m telling you, if The Queen of Versailles (which I saw in Boston) manages to sweep into the Palace by late April it she very well can win that Tony. You think Idina Menzel will actually be a threat?

And by “she” I mean Kristin Chenoweth, of course.

Thanks for that, R442. Hadn't even heard about this one. Assume, given the subject matter/setting of the holidays, it will be a very limited run and I won't get to catch it when I next come to NY in the spring, but it looks like a great cast at 2nd Stage!

R447 thank you for the review! I have tickets next week for Gypsy.

Here is my resentment. My favorite Broadway divas are Patti LuPone, Bernadette Peters and Betty Buckley and I see them all regularly in concerts/shows.

However I was too young to/didn’t have the means to see any of them in Gypsy.

So Audra is my first Gypsy and I hate that. I like her a lot and would enjoy her in other roles…but I crave the Buckley/LuPone belt on these songs. I’m jealous of those who got to experience them

Bitch better watch herself, if you don’t have Mama’ love, you don’t have anything

"Audra is my first Gypsy."

Oh, dear.

It’s crazy that Tyne Daly could barely sing, and Patti made tones more characteristic of a decapitated chicken, but Audra is the one under fire for her singing.

Marshall Brickman, co-writer of JERSEY BOYS and THE ADDAMS FAMILY, as well as the screenplays for ANNIE HALL, MANHATTAN and a whole lotta other shit is dead to me at 85.

R447: How was Camille A. Brown's non-Robbins choreography? (Thanks for your review above!)

Who created that awful "choreography" in the WICKED film?

I thought Gypsy always had to use Robbin's choreography

R456 Christopher Scott?

The choreography in Wicked film is one of the best things about it. It’s stylised, for sure, but feels entirely organic within Oz as fashioned by the film. The fact that it never feels ridiculous is a huge accomplishment.

At least it’s not ridiculous!

Jesus Christ -- What has happened to The NY Times Sunday Arts & Leisure section? A cover article on Angelina Jolie going to the Opera? A puff piece on Jon Chu directing WICKED? A Q & A with the girl who's not selling tickets in CABARET? Remember when that section was rich, interesting, surprising? Now all the Hollywood agents are running the section. Sad, sad, sad.

R461. A Q & A with the girl who's not selling tickets in CABARET?

Not selling tickets and not showing up for performances aside from her scheduled absences.

The masculine eye candy seems to be the only selling point for Swept Away.

R455, I liked the new choreography a lot. It’s definitely not a recreation of Robbins’ choreography. As I mentioned above Tulsa’s “All I Need is the Girl” has a lot of character-type dancing in it (reminiscent if Donald O’Connor’s work in films)) and hardly any tap. He doesn’t even yell “Break!”and then do a tap step like he normally does.

OK, I did sort of miss the strobe lights to mark the passage of time but then again as someone pointed out a while ago the Newsboys are black and the Farmboys are white. I did think the way the Newsboys are “replaced” by the Farmboys and June and Louise are re-introduced was somewhat inventive. Rose ushers them on stage, I think.

A few other random notes-there is no applause for “Small World” because it bleeds directly into Baby June and her Newsboys’ act. Incidentally it’s “May We Entertain You” in both the opening scene and during Baby June’s actual act. When Rose is getting Louise ready for her “stripping debut” she says the same line in the script about using “Let Me Entertain You” which struck me as a little odd. Why couldn’t she just say something like “We can use ‘May We Entertain You’ but this time it’ll be ‘Let Me Entertain You.” ?Whatever. By the way Baby June and Dainty June’s delivery of the first lyric “May we entertain you” is different from how it’s usually performed. It’s ohrased differently, in a bouncy, more period sort of style. I liked that.

At various points throughout it struck me how much Audra physucally resembled Leslie Uggams. It made me think what a great Rose Uggams woukd have been. She certainly would have had the proper belt voice to deliver those lyrics.

Not a fan of Tessie Tura wearing ballet slippers during “You Gotta Get a Gimmick.” Put the broad in heels, for god’s sake. I liked the new body position Mazeppa uses for her final trumpet run in “You Gotta Get a Gimmick.”. It’s just as vulgar as when Mazeppa would blow it between her legs like it was shooting out of her ass but that’s the whole point, right? And speaking of trumpets there’s no crazy trumpet run in the overture like there have been.. But there’s still the violin “PLUH-plink!” during the “Small World” bit so all is well with the world.

In the opening scene at Uncle Jocko’s there no longer is Clarence and his Clarinet, it’s now Carmichael and his Kazoo.

Brittney Johnson, the young lady playing Agnes/Amanda of Louise and Her Hollywood Blondes, is adorable. The bits between her and Tessie were a big hit with the audience.

One more thing-some audience members rose to their feet in the middle of Rose’s Turn.” I did hear someone behind me yell “Sit down!” It was embarrassing. Should this behavior be blamed on the Sunset Boulevard auduences? Blecch. Hated it.

[quote]The previous record was held by ‘GREASE’ (1978)

Just wait until my triumphant return to the screen in "Grease 3!"

There's no "crazy" trumpet run in the new Gypsy overture....and that's............................OK???

R464. Leslie Uggams played Rose in stock a few years ago.

Ah, right, R457. I was wondering about that. But she would have been way too old to play Rose if she had done it just a few years ago, wouldn’t it?

[quote] But she would have been way too old to play Rose

Don't even ....

R468. Yup but it was stock plus Leslie looks damn good for her age. Interesting that Leslie played Sally Bowles in a summer stock tour of Cabaret around 1970ish. She truly was a pioneer in diversity casting and I doubt audiences gave a shit.

R461, the Arts & Leisure section and the Times’ arts coverage in general has gone downhill since the ‘90s. It’s nothing like what it used to be.

The memorial for Gavin Creel will be live streamed on Monday, Dec. 2nd at 4pm ET.

Her costumes were decent...

R473. Leslie looks 40 in those clips. She's an amazing talent.

R474 it’s a pity the rest of the show looked on par with a community theatre!

I apologize if it's been discussed before, but Cabaret's current promotional art is just so ugly.

[quote]Incidentally it’s “May We Entertain You” in both the opening scene and during Baby June’s actual act. When Rose is getting Louise ready for her “stripping debut” she says the same line in the script about using “Let Me Entertain You” which struck me as a little odd. Why couldn’t she just say something like “We can use ‘May We Entertain You’ but this time it’ll be ‘Let Me Entertain You.” ?

But isn't "May We Entertain You?" already changed to "Let Me Entertain You" for the "Dainty June and Her Farmboys" number? If so, Rose obviously doesn't need to say your line about the title change.

Agree that the absence of a crazy trumpet run in the overture is unforgivable. Jule Styne would plotz.

How much did they spend to renovate the Majestic? And they still fucked up the bathrooms? Un-fucking-believable. Lines all over the staircases.

I'm confused. Is the trumpet run in the overture not part of the original orchestrations/arrangements? Yes, this is where I admit I've never listened to the Ethel Merman original. I came of age during the Bernadette revival and that cast recording was my go-to. The orchestra (including the trumpet solo) are fantastic on Bernie's cast recording.

^ that’s very good satire of the earlier dumb posts. Bravo!

Billy Porter joining the West End Cabaret. No, not as Sally.

Marisha IS Sally.

He was turned down for the role in the Mendes revival as a replacement. They told him he “wasn’t the story they were telling”

Apparently…he is now a story to tell.

^ source

Wow R476......maybe it should be called: Cabaret: Comin' At Ya!

R485 it’s in his memoir “Unprotected”

He shopped that story around in the NYT in 2017:

[quote] Six years passed. Clown-game offers abounded, but when I demanded to be seen as a three-dimensional human being, the work dried up. The pigeonhole I had put myself into was so tight that I was shut out of even auditions for anything of substance. I recall word coming back to my agents, stating, “That’s not the story we’re telling,” in response to my wanting to audition for the role of the M.C. in the 1998 revival of “Cabaret.”

Exhausting.

So he wasn’t turned down. He didn’t get an audition —two different things.

He got his wish now…it didn’t derail his career. Hope he enjoys the experience.

R489 seriously? If one is rejected from auditioning…is that not being turned down?

No— “turned down” implies you were considered. He never was. That’s show biz.

Outside of show biz: If you had sent a resume to an HR dept. and were never asked to interview, would you say you were turned down…no, you wouldn’t. But if you interviewed and then didn’t get a call back or offer, you would.

Pretty straightforward.

Don't give up on Chicago just yet.

Uh, if you get turned down for an opportunity to interview or to audition.....you've gotten turned down.

There was no opportunity. Capice?

Get a fucking life, would you?

Mirror, mirror.

Maybe Ms. Porter can also rewrite the book to CABARET and "fix" it the way he with THE LIFE at Encores!

R497 will this be the first production where the audience roots for the Emcee to be arrested by the Nazis?

R498. No

Have any of our London DLers seen the National's Importance of Being Earnest? It looks both fun *and* exhausting. (The NYTimes liked it.)

It does sound like fun.

Jerry Mitchell has brought us soooooo many pieces of shit: Kinky Boots, Prada, Pretty Woman, Boop.

All ugly, vulgar, slickly/grimly professional and altogether hollow. Can he not do better?

Could not agree more about Jerry Mitchell! Shocked he isn't also directing Death Becomes Her - right up his alley.

Even Casey Nicholaw has shown more depth than Jerry, and that's saying something....

Let's give Jerry "Hairspray" (which he only choreographed and didn't direct).

Remember the good old days with Fosse, Gower, Michael Bennett and Tommy Tune? Even their flops were fun and polished and interesting. What we have directing and choreographing now is embarrassing.

Jerry Mitchell's staging of LEGALLY BLONDE was superb -- I remember tuning into the MTV telecast and being shocked by how much I liked it.

Fran Lebowitz made a very astute observation.

When AIDs killed everyone, it let the second/third/fourth tier rise to the top. It has a negative impact on culture and art and it was a hole we haven’t dug ourselves out of.

This is very much true. The best directors and choreographers all died and the men who replaced them were marginal talents…at best

It wasn't astute, it was moronic, as is anyone who continues to cling to it. Not to mention the self-own of casting yourself as the shit that was left over.

Susan Stroman's 70. Jerry Mitchell turns 65 in January. Casey Nicholaw's 62. Who will succeed them?

At today's memorial/celebration for Gavin Creel, which was beautiful, Audra McDonald was listed in the Playbill to perform "How Glory Goes" from "Floyd Collins." But when the time came for that in the program, it was sung by Kelli O'Hara, with no introduction or announcement of her name.

P.S. Before the event started, I saw Audra talking in the lobby with her husband, Will Swenson, and one of their children. So she was present, but I guess she decided not to sing for whatever reason.

She may well be exhausted from playing Rose.

R509 I’m sorry it was not moronic.

Broadway is a shitshow and it’s because the talented people died and the people who replaced them are HACKS!

There is a reason the classics keep getting revived but the shows produced after 2000 are not.

[quote]Susan Stroman's 70. Jerry Mitchell turns 65 in January. Casey Nicholaw's 62. Who will succeed them?

Lavarious Slaughter.

Well R513, it’s also the case that there was no passing of the torch. The current crop didn’t learn from the masters.

And also, as Fran has wisely pointed out, audiences with taste and discrimination were widely wiped out.

I saw PRADA in Chicago. I saw PRADA in London. Jerry Mitchell deserves a special Tony for his work on the show. Elton's score is still shitty, but Mitchell makes the show fun, and he has a few numbers that are breathtaking. The Paris sequence was beautiful.

Let's not pretend that the 1963-83 (or thereabouts) Broadway audience was unassailable.

Well, r518, I'll take flops like Henry, Sweet Henry, Bajour, Baker Street, 110 in the Shade, The Grass Harp, High Spirits, The Happy Time, even Rockabye Hamlet (yes, I saw all of them) and so many others any day over the crap that succeeds on Broadway now.

[quote]Lavarious Slaughter

...on 10th Avenue

[Quote] Susan Stroman's 70. Jerry Mitchell turns 65 in January. Casey Nicholaw's 62. Who will succeed them?

All of Stroman’s shows suck

[quote]Lavarious Slaughter

[quote]...on 10th Avenue

He's movin' on up!

R481 - that wasn't intended to be satire. I was genuinely asking if this was the first Broadway production of Gypsy in which the trumpet solo is not a part of the overture. And, if so, why everyone thinks they'd make that change to, arguably, the most beloved and iconic overture in Broadway history.

I'm sorry that it offends that the Bernadette revival was my introduction to Gypsy, but I wasn't born in the Paleolithic era.

I remember a pan of “Baker Street” that ended with, “Anyhow, the fog was excellent.”

[quote]I'm sorry that it offends that the Bernadette revival was my introduction to Gypsy, but I wasn't born in the Paleolithic era.

Obviously you're not sorry, and that "Paleolithic era" remark show that you're something of an asshole.

r516 Again, idiocy. But hey, at least you admit you have no taste.

The actual issue that harmed culture was previously independent media companies being bought up by conglomerates that had no interest in culture and only cared about money, aided by a sharp right wing turn during the 80s and the rise of the yuppie. It's not a coincidence that the dramatic increase of shit from Hollywood was accompanied by the addition of "A ____ Company" on studio vanity cards. Plus the general shattering of the cultural homogeneity.

For Broadway, this saw the previous set of artistically minded investors who saw their investments more as donations replaced by money-focussed types attracted by the rise of the megamusical, especially necessary as the costs of staging a show increased dramatically.

The idea that a group of gay men could've overcome all that is as ridiculous as the revisionist history that pre-AIDS Broadway was nothing but long runs of Sondheim and Shakespeare. You actually think some CEO green-lighting a new Schwarzenegger film or Wall Street exec putting money into Cats was going to say "hey, we could make millions by pandering to the lowest common denominator, but this gaggle of gays says we shouldn't and instead we should revive Follies"?

R519, was High Spirits considered a "flop" or was it a show that couldn't find a big audience because it was the season of "Hello, Dolly!" "Funny Girl" and other popular shows?

R443, two or three girls alternate in the role. Your Playbill slip wasn’t announcing an understudy. It was telling you which of the rotating girls you were seeing.

Gavin Creel Memorial Celebration (December 2, 2024) / posted on youtube

This looks.......interesting.

R519, would you sit through Busker Alley and Legs Diamond again too?

R443 is from Arkansas and doesn’t understand child labour laws.

Really R453. I was with you until the Palaeolithic era remark.

Good gawd, Gypsy was only in 1959. And those were good times.

R526? The first major revivals of Follies were in the ‘80s.

Smarty pants.

The Pasadena LA CAGE was a total misfire. Every concept they tried...didn't work. It was amateur hour.

At least EVERYONE can come together to agree to shit on the Pasedena La Cage.

It reminds me of the old days when everyone agreed that Beanie Feldstein shit the bed on Funny Girl

The actor who plays Jean-Michel in that La Cage in Pasadena is disabled as well as obviously, unquestionably, extremely gay. Never mind that the whole point of the show is that the character is straight and therefore acceptable to his fiancee's ultra-conservative, homophobic parents. If the parents are so rigid and narrow-minded and full of hate, it defies credibility that they would accept a physically handicapped son-in-law even if he were straight, or a gay son-in-law even if he weren't physically handicapped. But hey, apparently the need for casting that's diverse in every respect sometimes overrides all logic, not to mention comprehensible storytelling.

I'm sure we can all think of lots of roles that could be credibly played by actors who are disabled and obviously gay even though they were not conceived that way, but if you pay any attention at all to the plot of La Cage, this isn't one of them.

Betty Gilpin taking over in Oh Mary! in Jan. Maybe Melissa McCarthy after her?

OMG! I LOVE Betty Gilpin! She is HILARIOUS!

She could probably write her own show. She’s great.

What an odd choice.

Part of what made the play what it was was the gay sensibility of Mary Todd Lincoln wanting to be a Cabaret star.

To me this feels like Phylicia Rashad taking over for Bernadette Peters in Into the Woods.

Mary selling tickets through the end of June. I can see Cole returning in time for awards season.

Betty Gilpin will make it her own. It will be hilarious.

I mean, watch this. I would book now if I were actually in NYC.

[quote]I remember a pan of “Baker Street” that ended with, “Anyhow, the fog was excellent.”

So nice that they singled out Mel Tormé for praise.

R536,

I am sending you roses for this remark: "It reminds me of the old days when everyone agreed that Beanie Feldstein shit the bed on Funny Girl."

I needed a laugh today, and you have provided. Thank you, thank you.

Additional Broadway Casting Announced For Jonathan Groff’s ‘Just In Time’ Bobby Darin Musical:

Grosses are out. I am a little surprised Sunset Blvd didn't make $2M over the holiday weekend. I think it will eventually. If there's a glimmer of hope for Maybe Happy Ending, the grosses are increasing, not decreasing, each week.

Closing notices coming soon for Swept Away or A Wonderful World?

Who knows if Left on Tenth really is closing on February 2nd. Regardless it doesn't have much time left.

They never should’ve brought Tammy Faye to Broadway. I thought the Louie Armstrong musical had a good chance but I guess the audience is niche.

What's Katie Finneran up to these days?

[quote]What's Katie Finneran up to these days?

A buck seventy-five

[quote]Additional Broadway Casting Announced For Jonathan Groff’s ‘Just In Time’ Bobby Darin Musical:

Which one will get to say (not sing) "Look at me, I'm Sandra Dee"?

I worked with Betty Gilpin's parents Jack Gilpin and Ann McDonough in the 1980s when they were young actors who did tons of off-Broadway and regional theater, though never becoming household names.

Funny now to see the super-cool daughter they produced as they were not exactly cool kids themselves, though absolutely lovely people. Jack has made something of a comeback as one of the 2 dueling butlers in The Gilded Age.

r552, the same one who'll get to say: "Your toupee is crooked!"

Broadway Box Office:

r536

LA Times gave La Cage a good review. McNulty is an idiot.

Broadway and the film industry just had their biggest Thanksgiving weeks in history. Thank you, Wicked.

I guess the economy isn't as bad as the media said.

R547: Who knows but my guess is they'll be gone by Christmas.

Liza's memoir may be adapted for television. There's an article on Playbill.com, but DL won't let me link to it.

r559

here ya go

It would have to be sheriesh in order to show all the shtuff......

[quote]Grosses are out. I am a little surprised Sunset Blvd didn't make $2M over the holiday weekend

Thanksgiving weekend is family time. I guess parents didn't want to bring Buffy and Jr to see this bloody mess.

r60, is there a role for me?

I like blue

Yikes! Those half dozen shows whose box office goes DOWN during Thanksgiving week? Time to close.

R546 I really hope Maybe Happy Ending improves its sales. I really enjoyed it. I think it is one of the more original shows in a long time.

My friend texted me early this morning just to say he saw Maybe Happy Ending over the weekend. He loved it.

With a new actress taking over Oh, Mary! There’ll be tons of discounted tickets available

It’s uninspired casting, at that. Melissa McCarthy would have kept it a hot ticket. It’s a long winter. And they’re currently planning on charging Cole Escola prices. Watch how long THAT lasts.

Britney Spears should have done Oh Mary. I’m serious.

Is it true that Maybe Happy Endings cost $18 million? WTF? It's a 4 "character" musical!

Yes, but it has a relentlessly busy and complex physical production. It never stops moving, to the point of distraction.

^^^That's not true, R572. There are many scenes that just involve the two main characters without a lot of tech stuff happening.

I'll admit that whatever it is that has made people go crazy for Maybe Happy Ending did not reach me. It's cute and inoffensive, and Helen J Shen is quite good. But I think the physical production is trotting out every trick in the book to dress up that tiny story.

[quote]Britney Spears should have done Oh Mary. I’m serious.

Over my dead body!

Would LOVE to see all the names on the Oh, Mary list before they settled for Betty Gilpin.

I turned it down.

Lincoln Center Theater’s Adam Siegel Named New Executive Director Of Second Stage Theater:

R569 Cole Escola prices? Betty Gilpin also charges by the hour?

Interesting about Adam Siegel, who was never given the title of Executive Director at LCT after Bernie Gersten died 12 years ago, although Adam was there for decades as Managing Director under Bernie. Who will be LCT's new Executive Director?

[quote]

Lincoln Center Theater’s Adam Siegel Named New Executive Director Of Second Stage Theater

While Second Stage is definitely a downgrade, getting our before Queen Lear gets her mitts on the place is definitely smart.

He wouldn’t sell tickets but I wish Charles Busch would have been cast

I was betting on Justin Vivan Bond

Patti LuPone was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award today for Agatha All Along.

So it seems the backstage at The Roommate will actually not feel like a sinking ship for once!

Can't imagine Busch would touch Oh Mary with the proverbial pole. Comparisons might be painful for him.

Suggestions for the next thread title?

I was really looking forward to McCarthy doing it. Ah well...

R587. She still might. Maybe she wasn't available right away and will takeover after Gilpin's limited run. If Melissa does do it I wonder which role her husband will play.

Frankly, Oh, Mary! has a mean-spiritedness that Charles Busch's plays and performances (thankfully) never indulged.

I found Oh, Mary! to be mildly funny, but nowhere near as clever or well-made as the plays of Charles Busch (and couldn't hold a candle to Charles Ludlam).

T.R. Knight Joins Broadway’s ‘Stranger Things’ Cast:

Imagine being a DLer and complaining about mean-spiritedness

Sorry r592, but I cannot imagine that.

I'm so glad TR Knight is back working in the theater more regularly after his horrible experiences in Hollywood and on a TV series. I worked with him at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis almost 30 years ago when he first became a professional actor (he's from Minnesota). Lovely human being and so talented.

Now, if we could just get Malcolm Gets back on the boards again.

I think you mean Patti was nominated for the Independent SPIT Award.

r594, this will get lost with a final "Bajour!", but thank you. TR Knight, along with Sally Wingert, gave some of the most memorable comedic performances I saw on the (old) Guthrie stage. Joe Dowling erased much of what I loved about the Guthrie, but his first production of Midsummer was pretty epic.

R595 - Terri Klausner

Here's the new thread.

Closing this one out ...

BAJOUR!