THEATRE GOSSIP #585: The "Glengarry Glen Rachel" Edition

Here's the old thread.

Here's what the title's referring to.

I suppose I could have mentioned Orville Peck doing Cabaret without his mask.

Still a big NO.

I read the name of Orville’s Sally as Eva Nosebleeda

[quote]I read the name of Orville’s Sally as Eva Nosebleeda

You've always been such a rebel, r5.

[quote]is Audra today’s greatest musical theater actress? She only has 1 Tony for lead actress in a musical.

Cynthia Erivo will have 2 lead actress Tonys if she decides to return to Broadway. She can surpass Audra, but I think her focus is on Hollywood.

I want Cynthia to play the female Ricky Roma.

Don't joke. I wouldn't be the least surprised if Erivo finds her way into that Glengarry revival cast.

I seriously doubt that Patti will be in it. She's not hip enough for what they'll be looking for, I think.

Lea Salonga is the best thing about OLD FRIENDS. She shows enormously range, great humor and warmth in her performance. And a gorgeous voice. I became a big fan.

Copied from previous thread:

[R589], Salonga’s played a lot of roles in her native Manila (and Singapore ) that she wouldn’t necessarily be considered for elsewhere like Sandy in Grease, Grizabella in Cats, the title role in Cinderella, Lizzie in Baby and Eliza Doolittle in you-know-what. I would think Evita would have been a no-brainer but I guess there would be a certain reluctance to produce a show about a fascist dictator in that part of the world. I made Google my friend and there are no signs of any productions of Evita gracing their stages. Gee, I wonder why not.

Rachel Zegler’s belt soprano is very similar to Salonga’s. She’ll do fine in Evita. I particularly look forward to hearing her rendition of “You Must Love Me” although god knows how Jamie Lloyd will stage it.

[quote]I seriously doubt that Patti will be in it. She's not hip enough for what they'll be looking for, I think.

Also, what is the current status of Patti's relationship with David Mamet?

[quote]Also, what is the current status of Patti's relationship with David Mamet?

He's her bitch, as is the whole world.

Mamet is a Magat. Fuck him. Let them do the revival at the Trump Center in DC.

I’m not sure if there’s been a discussion about this yet but isn’t it odd they cast Audra in Gypsy…?

[quote]Trump Center in DC

Hey, great idea for a new name for the Kennedy Center! Thanks, R14

Divine and Dame Edna are actual personalities. Divine was playing the role in Hairspray. John Travolta and Harvey F aren’t drag personalities.

Btw, the man behind Divine is also in Hairspray.

I could see Patti playing the old, ugly character, Shelley isn’t it?

Plus wouldn’t need a name change, or makeup

I wonder if 'honorees' will start turning down Kennedy Center Honors. Unless they start giving them out to Kid Rock and Marla Maples, etc.

Trump has already said he wants a say in the Kennedy Center Honorees, who knows who the fuck he wants to name

Couldn't the entity known as The Kennedy Center Honors simply fold and go away until Dump leaves office?

Aren't they produced by the Center?

R23 yes but the center has been destroyed and replaced by Trumpers.

[Quote] The idea that Audra's role options are limited by her race is one of the craziest ever to be expressed on the DL.

Hilarious. DL shrieks about how a Black Rose is not okay…but now suddenly Audra can play anything she wants…

What recent revivals could Audra have played the lead role in?

I’m surprised that Audra seems to have only played 4 leading roles in musicals during her Bway career

I forgot David Mamet was a Trumper. He and Patti couldn’t possibly still be friends.

She has said in interviews R28 that she and Mamet are still friends, they just don’t discuss politics

Per WaPo, not only is Dump saying he wants to remake the Honors event, he’s suggesting he may want to host it himself.

[quote]Hilarious. DL shrieks about how a Black Rose is not okay…but now suddenly Audra can play anything she wants…

The point, in case you didn't notice and don't get it, is that a Broadway production of GYPSY with Audra as Rose has happened -- no matter how many people here "shrieked" about the casting.

How many Tonys (Oscars, whatever) anyone has won is not an accurate indicator of his or her acting ability, people.

Cynthia Erivo's acting skills may, for all I know, surpass Audra's by the time she's Audra's age, but she's nowhere near them right now. I doubt she can ever get near them because she lacks a sense of humor.

[quote]I forgot David Mamet was a Trumper.

Mamet publicly parroted the "male teachers are pedophiles" BS that the GOP was pushing as it was trying to find bogeyman for us to hate.

There was a Mamet revival on Bway at the time and his producers likely shut him up after that

[quote]The point, in case you didn't notice and don't get it, is that a Broadway production of GYPSY with Audra as Rose has happened -- no matter how many people here "shrieked" about the casting.

Oh, they are STILL shrieking about it--but, realizing how racist they sounded, changed suddenly to "her soprano is so wrong for the role," and "I have Black friends who think she's wrong for the role...:"

She will win her next TONY this year and they'll STILL say it's because she's Black,

[quote]changed suddenly to "her soprano is so wrong for the role,"

Don't rewrite history, r34, that was *always* the primary criticism.

R35, Sure, Jan

R35 Nope. Go back to threads at the time of previews or even earlier. Lots of “Rose can’t or shouldn’t be Black” comments.

R34, your continued insistence that you know what other people are thinking, and that it's different from what they're saying (or posting here), is incredibly nervy and offensive. I was the person who wrote here that I have a Black friend -- a professional singer -- who feels strongly that Audra is vocally wrong for the role of Rose. And it's a fact that he feels that way, no matter how hard you might try to twist it into something else.

Is he still your friend?

Asking for a friend.

R38, Sure Jan

A star of the original GYPSY feels strongly that Audra is the best Rose she's seen, even better than Merman.

I've seen at least four Roses and she brings up the most emotion in me. No other Rose made the audience cry at the end.

The crazy key changes and indulgent slowing down of certain passages drove me insane.

R41 Tovah did when she flashed the panties!

Was that your “Turn” then?

[quote]No other Rose made the audience cry at the end.

You are not in a position to make such a ridiculous statement. No one is.

Glengarry Glen Rachel? Does that mean they want ME?

[quote]Per WaPo, not only is Dump saying he wants to remake the Honors event, he’s suggesting he may want to host it himself.

Maybe he can turn it into a competition show, like "The Apprentice."

He also claims to have disliked "Hamilton", but he's never been to see it in a theatre, and I'd be willing to bet if he started watching it on Disney+, he made it to the end of the first number, then shot the screen.

R10 — I felt the opposite watching Lea Salonga in OLD FRIENDS in London. She’s a game girl, no question, but she lacked the authority and spark of a star. She was adequate, no more. And she’s fat.

Audra playing Rose in Gypsy just never struck me as a good idea...

...now Pearl Bailey as Rose in Gypsy would have been an excellent idea!

Oh yea—that would have gone over well with the proto-DL crowd gossiping at Sardi’s back in the day.

I didn’t realize doing Glengarry with all women was for real. It won’t work but it could still be fun. Are they going to keep all the lines about how real men should act. Or replace the word men with women.

Maybe Sally Struthers and Rita Moreno can reunite for Glengarry.

[quote]Divine and Dame Edna are actual personalities. Divine was playing the role in Hairspray. John Travolta and Harvey F aren’t drag personalities.

I know this is a somewhat nuanced distinction, but I disagree. Divine WAS a drag queen. Yes, it's true that Divine was sometimes a "character" but Divine was also just the persona that Harris Glenn Milstead embodied. I guess where it gets confusing (for you and, apparently, only YOU, r17) is Divine also played different roles in a variety of media.

It IS true that Dame Edna was not a drag queen. Edna was a character Barry Humphries played in drag.

Pearlie Mae was an Agnes, not a Rose

"Mama was NOT a drag queen!" (Norman Bates)

Didn't Oprah and Audra do a reading of 'Night Mother, to see if they could do it on Broadway?

So who is George sucking backstage among every actor he handpicked to appear alongside him?

Hint: he approved every single one of them.

It's true that Clooney had personal approval over every actor cast. Unsurprising if you look at who was cast. The few others were Cromer's boys.

Patti was born to play Blake.

[Quote] You are not in a position to make such a ridiculous statement. No one is.

Of course I am. I’ve seen a ton of GYPSYs. I have a Black friend who has seen a bunch too….

Probably Clark Gregg’s big dick.

[Quote] The crazy key changes and indulgent slowing down of certain passages drove me insane.

Oh please. Who the heck cares what keys the songs are in? Are you sitting in the audience analyzing each note? My god, you’re exhausting

My Black friend just loved all the key changes and slowing of certain passages in GYPSY

[Quote] He also claims to have disliked "Hamilton"

Let me guess—he has a Latino friend who disliked it too…

[Quote] You are not in a position to make such a ridiculous statement. No one is.

The part and moment were never written to make the audience cry. This is exactly what Audra’s take is such a refreshing one.

Key changes and modulations that make Rose sound like a church lady are indeed problematic.

"There's Only Two Genders! The Musical"

Between Clooney and Cromer, they hand chose every guy they fucked or wanted to or will fuck.

Cromer has a long history of fucking his actors.

I saw Clark having breakfast with a woman! Saturday at La Bergamote.

How nice, r70. How nice for us all.

Clark is straight. Straight w a big cock.

R72, they're not all meant to put out.

How many worked with Cromer before?

[quote]Who the heck cares what keys the songs are in?

It's not so much what keys the songs are in, it's that there are weird, abrupt, jarring key changes WITHIN songs to try to make them suit Audra's vocal range.

[quote]My Black friend just loved all the key changes and slowing of certain passages in GYPSY.

Does he also love watching you get on your knees preparatory to doing what you do best?

Good Night and Good Luck is a sausage fest. I'm shocked.

And a crappy night of theater.

Is it awful, R78? I'm not surprised.

Who exactly makes up the cast of Clooney's vanity project?

[quote] Who exactly makes up the cast of Clooney's vanity project?

Old whorusboys

Heard nothing but bad words

[quote] I felt the opposite watching Lea Salonga in OLD FRIENDS in London. She’s a game girl, no question, but she lacked the authority and spark of a star. She was adequate, no more. And she’s fat.

But, she can still sing, unlike Bernadette.

GYPSY with Merman opened some 65 years ago. Just how old is the member of the original cast who claims Audra is the best Rose?

Eleventy-six

is Cromer gay?

Si si.

[quote]Just how old is the member of the original cast who claims Audra is the best Rose?

Her name is Lane Bradbury. I can't find her age right away, but I believe she is well into her 90s.

Coffee is for closeresses!

Brendan Jacobs-Jenkins' PURPOSE is not a NY Times Critics' Pick (Jesse reviewed). All other reviews raves. Hmmmmm....

I know we keep talking about Audra's GYPSY, but it seems to me that the guys are really racking up the misguided vanity projects this season: Denzel's OTHELLO, George's GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK, Nick Jonas' THE LAST FIVE YEARS, possibly Jonathan Groff in JUST IN TIME ...

[quote]r83 = But, she can still sing, unlike Bernadette.

Lea is 23 years younger than Bernadette.

So? They are on the same stage and the Bernadette can't maintain the kewpie doll image she clings onto. She was amazing in her prime, but can't do it as well anymore.

[quote]r93 = She was amazing in her prime, but can't do it as well anymore.

We'll see how Lea sounds in 23 years. You can feel however you want about Bernadette, but to compare her with Lea is silly.

MSW - Aww, Angie's wearing her Rose's Turn neckline...

That was her standard—she wore her décolletage to death.

[quote]We'll see how Lea sounds in 23 years

Hopefully, she will have the good sense to retire by then.

I'm referring to the specific neckline, r96.

Yes, R86, Cromer is gay.

And has a beer can cock, if rumors are true.

R95 so am I. There are photos of her by the dozen with a similar cut.

[quote]The few others were Cromer's boys.

Lots of directors hire the same actors for different projects, doesn't imply a casting couch situation.

Maybe, R102. Or maybe we can see who is his type is by who looking at who Cromer has cast more than once.

Here was his George Gibbs in the famous Barrow Theater production of Our Town.

She showed decolletage with other necklines, r101. That one is specific to her Rose's Turn costume.

You can stop now.

This actor is in Good Night and Good Luck and was in Cromer's Uncle Vanya.

Being an actor myself, I always defend actors when casting is announced and people say “they’re all wrong for the role.” Sutton in The Music Man, Audra in Lady Day, etc. So I went to Audra Gypsy enthusiastically. I had no preconceived notion that her race would be a problem or even that her voice would be a problem. She belted “Down with Love” in one of those Broadway Leading Ladies concerts many years ago and sounded great BUT at Gypsy, she lost me during “Some People.” It just wasn’t convincing and her voice WAS all wrong for it. The singing was ragged and worse, she was out of tune. Maybe I caught her on an off night and/or I wasn’t able to take in the nuance of her performance because I was sitting in the balcony. But it was a definite miss for me. I would vote for Nicole if I had to choose between just the two of them. I have high hopes for Jasmine Amy Rogers though. And Helen J Shen should not be dismissed.

Sutton was mostly too OLD for the role but I guess Marian needed to be older since Hugh is a thousand.

R110. 100%

[Quote] Key changes and modulations that make Rose sound like a church lady are indeed problematic.

Did you jump in your seat, shocked by each key change and then cup your face in your hand to hide your sobbing?

[Quote] she lost me during “Some People.” It just wasn’t convincing and her voice WAS all wrong for it. The singing was ragged and worse, she was out of tune. Maybe I caught her on an off night and/or I wasn’t able to take in the nuance of her performance because I was sitting in the balcony.

Did you bolt out your chair with a huff, stick your fist out at the stage, and yell “wrong key, Blackie!”?

You seem to be the one "huffing" over any criticism of Audra, r113.

I have to agree with r109. The voice did not sound good and the notes weren't always in tune. She acted it fine, but it was hardly a revelation. She was just so...intense...

Jesse has lost all credibility. He gave "Idina climbs a tree" a Crix Pick, and it received universal mixed to pans from everyone else. And to not recognize PURPOSE is ridiculous. He's just gotten bad.

[quote]Sutton was mostly too OLD for the role but I guess Marian needed to be older since Hugh is a thousand.

Most people feel she did not look too old for the role onstage, and that the main problem with her performance was that she's all wrong for the part of Marian from a vocal standpoint. Another problem was that she's not a good enough actress to have figured out how to play Marian's stiffness in the scenes where that's required without coming across as unpleasant and unsympathetic through most of the show.

The person here who KEEPS ON INSISTING that criticism of Audra in GYPSY equals racism, despite very cogent and sincere explanations by the critics about why it's not about that at all, should be banned from DL. Seriously.

[quote]Jesse has lost all credibility. He gave "Idina climbs a tree" a Crix Pick, and it received universal mixed to pans from everyone else.

I honestly enjoyed Redwood. I even surprised myself

R127 that, and she was not young enough.

[quote]The person here who KEEPS ON INSISTING that criticism of Audra in GYPSY equals racism, despite very cogent and sincere explanations by the critics about why it's not about that at all, should be banned from DL. Seriously.

You must also have a Black friend who believes the same thing, right?

R128 Cogent? Barely coherent.

Was this supposed be be a limited run?

Silly old queens.

You can't make an all-female version of "Glengarry Glen Ross." The central premise of the play was how a man's career and a man's manhood are inescapably intertwined. In our culture, women aren't cursed with that same expectation.

This is like doing an all-white version of Porgy and Bess. It's idiotic.

If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

I don't know. Ask Idina.

R121, you are a sad and particularly insufferable example of someone who would never post the offensive, race-baiting things you post here if you weren't allowed to do so anonymously.

[quote]I went to Audra Gypsy enthusiastically. I had no preconceived notion that her race would be a problem or even that her voice would be a problem. She belted “Down with Love” in one of those Broadway Leading Ladies concerts many years ago and sounded great BUT at Gypsy, she lost me during “Some People.” It just wasn’t convincing and her voice WAS all wrong for it. The singing was ragged and worse, she was out of tune. Maybe I caught her on an off night and/or I wasn’t able to take in the nuance of her performance because I was sitting in the balcony. But it was a definite miss for me.

Like it or not, R122, the above explanation by R109 of why they didn't like Audra in GYPSY is completely cogent, rational, and clearly free of any racism or other form of bias or prejudgment. And this is a statement of fact, no matter how loudly you may scream otherwise.

P.S. If you're going to criticize someone else's post, at least get the number of the post right, so people can find it without searching.

Audra's casting as Rose reminds me of Nicole Kidman's abominable portrayal of Lucille Ball in Becoming the Ricardos (or whatever that awful mess of a movie was called) from Aaron Sorkin.

A talented actress totally unsuited and unequipped to deliver an iconic character we all know and love. It has nothing to do with race. It's about a lack of particular skills.

Interesting that you say "Audra's casting" rather than "Audra's performance". Have you actually seen her perform?

Also, it's blatantly ridiculous to say "it has nothing to do with race". You're genuinely going to try and pretend that not a single person opposing her casting is doing so because of race?

The streets are saying the last five years is better than they thought it would be. Maybe it was brilliant to have Nick Jonas release videos of him singing songs badly. People lowered expectations, so they are pleasantly surprised.

It always works for me!

There’s a video of Audra and company singing Some People on this or the last thread—from one of the talk shows.

Not a note out of place. So stop with the “she was off tune” bs

[Quote] Audra's casting as Rose reminds me of Nicole Kidman's abominable portrayal of Lucille Ball in Becoming the Ricardos (or whatever that awful mess of a movie was called) from Aaron Sorkin. A talented actress totally unsuited and unequipped to deliver an iconic character we all know and love. It has nothing to do with race. It's about a lack of particular skills.

Wow, just “casting” the greatest musical actress on stage today, the only Rose who could bring in audiences, was a bad idea.

I wonder why….?

R128 The quoted post was so poorly written that any possibly cogent thought was lost in the weeds.

[Quote] Maybe I caught her on an off night and/or I wasn’t able to take in the nuance of her performance because I was sitting in the balcony

Balcony? Poor people shouldn’t be allowed to comment

People love feeling good about themselves. And attacking anyone who doesn't like Audra as racist makes some people feel good about themselves.

[quote]You're genuinely going to try and pretend that not a single person opposing her casting is doing so because of race?

Of course, no one who has posted here has expressed this. You have to be a mental midget not to understand that because SOME people oppose the casting because of race, that doesn't mean EVERYONE who opposes the casting is doing so for the same reason.

But also, though I'm sure you won't accept this, it's possible and reasonable for people to object to the reconception of GYPSY for a largely Black cast on purely artistic grounds, without an element of racism.

[quote]I went to Audra Gypsy enthusiastically. I had no preconceived notion that her race would be a problem or even that her voice would be a problem. She belted “Down with Love” in one of those Broadway Leading Ladies concerts many years ago and sounded great BUT at Gypsy, she lost me during “Some People.” It just wasn’t convincing and her voice WAS all wrong for it. The singing was ragged and worse, she was out of tune. Maybe I caught her on an off night and/or I wasn’t able to take in the nuance of her performance because I was sitting in the balcony. But it was a definite miss for me.

R134, please enlighten us all as to what's "poorly written" about the above post. We'll wait.

Well, just for starters, there is at least one punctuation error in every sentence. There’s plenty more; check your copy of Strunk & White for further reference.

r137 The poster I quoted said exactly that though - "It has nothing to do with race".

And it's funny how, for several threads, you've been quoting your black friend as saying Audra herself wasn't right for the role, and now you're here saying the entire show shouldn't have been cast with black people.

[quote]There’s a video of Audra and company singing Some People on this or the last thread—from one of the talk shows. Not a note out of place. So stop with the “she was off tune” bs

In several of her previous roles (such as RAGTIME, PORGY AND BESS, and 110 IN THE SHADE) and stand-alone performances of various songs, and now in GYPSY, Audra has often switched very abruptly between her belt register and her soprano range. She seems to do that very purposely because she thinks it's exciting, and many people would agree -- myself included, depending on the role and the particular song. But I could see that kind of approach resulting in out-of-tune singing on occasion, so the fact that she was not out of tune in one particular performance means nothing.

So you're basing an argument on something which might have happened, but with no proof it actually did?

…so the fact that she was out of tune in one particular performance also means nothing. FIFY

Buy me a Mercedes Benz!

[quote]Now you're here saying the entire show shouldn't have been cast with black people.

No, I DID NOT say that -- or write it. In all seriousness, it seems clear that your reading comprehension level hovers somewhere around the first grade level.

R141, congratulations on getting into Audra’s head and telling us all that she thinks it’s “exciting” to switch between her belt register and her soprano range. Here’s a glimpse into MY head-all that damn switching was fucking irritating to listen to at the performance I attended of Gyosy in November.

Perhaps, r146, but was it Audra-Gyosy you saw in November?

r145 Go on then, explain "it's possible and reasonable for people to object to the reconception of GYPSY for a largely Black cast on purely artistic grounds".

Why don't we just change this thread's theme to "Bitches Who Won't Shut The Fuck Up About Audra Fuckin' McDonald"?

You're all so tedious.

R149 Marry Me!

Mafuckin’

FIFY

[Quote] People love feeling good about themselves. And attacking anyone who doesn't like Audra as racist makes some people feel good about themselves.

Does your Black friend believe that too?

[Quote] Audra has often switched very abruptly between her belt register and her soprano range.

That’s just her style. I feel it gives her more vocal colors and the ability in infuse her songs with more drama.

If you don’t like it, so be it, but I love it

[Quote] Here’s a glimpse into MY head-all that damn switching was fucking irritating to listen to at the performance I attended of Gyosy in November.

People have said very publicly that her performance has changed since early on—more belt, less head. I saw her in Feb, and she was a revelation. Perhaps you could consider going back and sitting closer.

maybe Audra and Gypsy could have a thread all to themselves?

They already do, and you're on it, R155.

R148, you really, honestly do seem to be semi-literate. Yes, I wrote that "it's possible and reasonable for people to object to the reconception of GYPSY for a largely Black cast on purely artistic grounds," as several posters here have done, but nowhere do I say that I personally object to it on those grounds. The truth is that I found the concept very interesting and worth the try, even though I think it doesn't completely work. Anyway, my main objections to this production have nothing to do with all that.

[quote]People have said very publicly that her performance has changed since early on—more belt, less head.

I find that hard to believe. The keys, including some modulations within songs, seem to have been chosen specifically so that Audra could comfortably sing some of the score in her alto belt register and other parts of it in soprano. I would be surprised if she's belting more now unless some of those keys have been changed, and that seems very doubtful to me.

Anyone see any shows here not called Gypsy? Othello, GGR, Dorian Grey?

Even "My Black Friends" are sick of hearing about Audra Fuckin' McDonald.

Fuck, I know I AM.

The only thing worse than "Bitches Who Won't Shut The Fuck Up About Audra Fuckin' McDonald" are "Bitches Who Won't Shut The Fuck Up About Sutton Mother Fuckin' Foster".

r157 Your over-reliance on ad hominem instead of actually arguing what's being said speaks volumes about your actual argument, and frankly only makes you look foolish. After all, if you genuinely thought I was as simple as you say, why would you take any time at all to even respond to my posts?

You typed exactly what I said you did. You haven't presented any argument as to why it doesn't suggest black people should not be cast in Gypsy. Instead your only line of defence is that you didn't mean it yourself, you were just defending people who did.

No, 163. My "line of defense" that some people can object to casting POC in certain roles in certain shows on purely artistic grounds, without racism involved, is 100 percent reasonable and cogent. And though you refuse to believe it, it's true that I myself don't object to the casting of POC in this production of GYPSY on artistic grounds (OR racist grounds), because in this case I think it's an interesting concept even if it doesn't completely work. Which is exactly what I wrote.

I would never have resorted to ad hominem attack if you hadn't kept insisting that ANYONE who criticizes this production or Audra's performance on any grounds MUST be racist, with no exceptions possible. If that's not an ad hominem attack, I don't know what is.

r164 Quote the post number where I said that. You won't because you can't because I didn't. You're just adding a strawman to your ad hominem collection.

And for all your blathering, you still haven't explained how what you typed wasn't the same as saying black people should not be cast in Gypsy.

So who is a star of the original Gypsy who thinks Audra is the best Rose ever including Merman? Sandra Church who as I know has never given an interview about the show? She and Merman hated each other. I have no idea why. Because Church was Styne's side piece? Merman was jealous? She wanted to be Styne's side piece?

Read the thread

r166 see r88

It's not quite on the level of Cameron Mackintosh making a documentary to praise himself, but Sonia Friedman has bought herself a hagiography in the NY Times. One which attempts to paint her replacement of Beanie with Lea as a genius move, rather than pointing out how casting Beanie to begin with was a massive mistake

r132

Are you sure it was some people? I can't find a clip(I would like to see it though)... there was a clip of together where ever we go though... it did seem off

Bitches Who Won't Shut The Fuck Up About Fol- Mother Fuckin' -lies!

[Quote] My "line of defense" that some people can object to casting POC in certain roles in certain shows on purely artistic grounds, without racism involved, is 100 percent reasonable and cogent

Does your Black friend agree?

Certainly, one can not like Audra in this role BUT, because the loud opposition to Audra began specifically with comments about her race, even before she had performed even one show, the morphing excuses to dislike her become suspect.

It got worse with the “My Black friend agrees” BS. These are literally the exact words racists say

This incessant Audra chat has exhausted me more than Roxane Gay

I think she's terrific when she's supporting, but she's not capable of carrying a lead role, as evidenced by The Ropers...

R175, Audra was in The Ropers?

I don't have any black friends. Or white friends. Or any friends. And I don't think I'm the only one on DL who can say that.

[Quote] I don't have any black friends. Or white friends. Or any friends.

We figured

I can't believe Lane Bradbury is so forgotten. She used to be a staple.

Actually, there's a wonderful video interview with Sandra Church, done before this current revival, but not that long ago. Lots of interesting and cogent opinions from her. I saw it linked on DL in the last year but now can't remember how to find it. Perhaps someone clever will....

Lane Bradbury, the original Dainty June, was born in 1938 and is currently 86.

Do you think the reporter did lines with Sonia?

R182. I would not be surprised. I just met her once (a friend of a friend) and that was enough.

[quote]It's not quite on the level of Cameron Mackintosh making a documentary to praise himself,

I was unaware that this is happening, but I'm not at all surprised. He is loathsome, and shameless.

And I did not know that Jamie Lloyd was gay....but he has found love with a chorus boy....

This is like that awful musical about the two old bats and their cosmetics empires. Christine AND Patti on one stage!

Girls! You’re BOTH cunts!

[quote]It got worse with the “My Black friend agrees” BS. These are literally the exact words racists say.

But what if it's 100 percent true -- and it is -- that my black friend, who's a professional singer, saw GYPSY and felt that Audra is all wrong for the wrong vocally? Am I not supposed to report that he said that, just because racists sometimes use the same language? As a reminder, the only reason I mentioned this friend of mine is Black is that some people here are absolutely convinced that anyone who objects to Audra's performance on any level MUST feel that way because they are racist.

I wonder what the hell you people would say to my Black friend if you happened to meet him in person and you got into a discussion in which he criticized Audra's vocal performance as Rose? The mind boggles.

*Both* of you just...shut...up.

Oh, like Lane Bradbury is such a big deal.

Sorry, I can't figure out how to link it but for those interested, the Sandra Church interview is part of the PBS American Masters on Jerome Robbins. With lots of outtakes, I think, so it's quite thorough. Worth a look/listen, for sure! Just google.....

Lane worked with Merman, Bette Davis and Shelly Winters. I'll bet she's got some stories.

I believe someone had previously said that Lane Bradbury is now in her 90s, but though I don't know her birth year, I did the math based on how old she probably was in GYPSY, and it would seem that she's probably in her early- to mid-80s.

Shared a dressing room with Merman on the national tour of "Fiddlestick and Balderdash!" The memory of watching her open a beer bottle with her hoohoo will be forever etched in my mind.

Angie and Bea hostess a get-together!

Did anyone here see A Bed & Chair? Seems like a fun concept.

Anybody here seen GGR? Bill Burr was pimping it on the Tonight Show and said it’s actually getting laughs. I’m curious to hear from audience members if the laughs are what Burr claims—recognition of bully work environments—or because he can’t deliver lines in a serious tone.

Also, FYI, Audra is not in this play.

I saw GGR and it did get lots of laughs. I thought Burr was excellent and the Act 1 scene between him and McKean was the best scene in the play. It was entertaining and fast moving but maybe the darker side of the play got lost. Definitely Mamet’s best play by a mile.

[quote]Anyone see any shows here not called Gypsy? Othello, GGR, Dorian Grey?

The Black Crook?

[quote]And I did not know that Jamie Lloyd was gay....but he has found love with a chorus boy....

Tale as old as time . . .

r184 It was released in 2021 and is called 'Cameron Mackintosh - The First 50 Years'. Yes, really.

I have no idea what this is about, but I know a Rachel who is a total cunt and Glengarry Glen Rachel is perfect for her! It's way better than Rageaholic Rachel.

[quote]Did anyone here see A Bed & Chair? Seems like a fun concept.

IMHO, it was one of the best Sondheim revues, probably because it wasn't a revue in the traditional sense. It had a thread of a story to it, and I thought it was very well done.

I saw GGR on Saturday night and people laughed in a way you could tell most have watched the movie and love it. Lots of finance bros for whom GGR is a comedy. It is funny but, as someone said above, the drama gets lost. Some very cartoonish performances, the whole play has been directed very poorly, very heavy-handed. Burr is very good since that language of hate comes very easily to him. There is also an unnecessary intermission (the play is only 1;45 mn with a 20 mn intermission) that breaks the rhythm of the play. The staging in the second act is way too impressive for that play (but I guess they had to feel that cavernous stage). At the end, I felt that this is the play that I could have lived without seeing again. Broadway has become ridiculous expensive and the thrill of paying $300+ to see a play is not for me (it might have been when I was younger).

Saw Smash last night. Poor people on stage. maybe the worst book of a musical ever written. Kristen Nielsen was out and I think out since previews started. Anyone know anything? Is she ill or just the thought of doing the show making her sick?

Who is Bill Burr when he's not in GGR?

He has a podcast. That’s how far the legit dramatic stage has fallen on Broadway.

Bill Burr is the lead in The Hobbit when not in GGR

[Quote] I wonder what the hell you people would say to my Black friend if you happened to meet him in person and you got into a discussion in which he criticized Audra's vocal performance as Rose? The mind boggles.

I’d say “Nigga, Please!”

Bill Burr is a comedian. But he’s also a good actor.

Ivo von Hove directing Bryan Cranston in a Broadway revival of All My Sons?

Wasn't Ivo canceled last year?

It's wild how plays are more popular than musicals on Broadway now. Othello, GGR, McNeal, Rome&Juliet, Oh Mary, Good Night, Comedy About Love have all been sold out and making big bucks. This has never happened before.

Broadway right now is all plays and Wicked. That's it.

That's obviously because the plays, both the revivals and the new ones, are so much better than the musicals, both the revivals and the new ones. By the end of the 1980s we lost the art of writing and directing musicals.

Also, most current Broadway plays are headed by stars and audiences are coming to see them more than the plays.

R211, what you wrote is simply not true. R213 has a more accurate measure of the situation. And of course, movie stars are more likely to appear in straight plays than musicals, unless they're the relatively rare movie stars who have real singing/dancing talent.

I saw Patti LuPone at Symphony Space last evening. She was in great voice and even though it was her songs from the hat show, all of her show hits were picked, which was a nice surprise.

She started off with As Long As He Needs Me from Oliver

R203 A show that runs an hour and forty five minutes needs an intermission.

Only older people can afford $300 tickets and we need to go to the bathroom and move our legs by an hour and 15 minutes, or we die.

R216 I'm not seeing a problem with that alternative.

R216. there were a lot of very young men....

I have to concur with R41.

I saw Angela (thrilling).

I saw Tyne (great).

I saw Bernadette (FANTASTIC).

I saw Patti (unfortunate).

Audra is a revelation. It really is one of the greatest performances I’ve ever seen. She is THAT good.

R219 - I loved Bernadette, too. Vocal issues early in her run, I'll never understand the hate for her Rose. I found her a stunner. Her Rose's Turn and the book scene that follows it and closes the show were incredible.

I meant to say "Vocal issues early in her run aside, I'll never understand the hate for her Rose."

Fuck Jesse Green. He's shat upon every worthwhile show this season. Now, It's Operation Mincemeat. Get the hell out, Jess. You suck.

[quote]A show that runs an hour and forty five minutes needs an intermission. Only older people can afford $300 tickets and we need to go to the bathroom and move our legs by an hour and 15 minutes, or we die.

Depends.

Jesse Green's review of PURPOSE made my jaw drop. PURPOSE is one of those rare shows where you can feel the audience is so invested in the story that they are with the actors every step of the way. The play is wildly hilarious and beautifully written, with great performances across the board. What a surprise treat. Like last year, the plays are thus far superior to the musicals this season.

[quote]Like last year, the plays are thus far superior to the musicals this season.

Probably because the playwrights, producers, directors, and actors are trying to produce a quality product, unlike the other.

Maybe Happy Ending is fabulous. Saw it the other night and loved every minute of it.

Saw OTHELLO last night. Total dumpster fire. Jake somewhat survives, but because everything around him is so bland/average/misguided (including an oddly passive Denzel) he comes off as occasionally showboating. Terrible, uneven, misguided, lost direction. And those prices are insane.

Kenny Leon is such an incompetent director. He ruined Our Town this season, now he's strangling Shakespeare. Don't they need him in London, or somewhere even further away?

I used to be on the fence about Kenny Leon, but I thought OUR TOWN proved pretty conclusively once and for all that he's not a good director. And though I don't know if I'll get to see OTHELLO, from what I'm reading of people's reactions to it, here is further proof.

I was on a Virgin Voyages cruise ship (when they were still fresh, shut up!) and saw their signature stage show down in the bowels of the ship. It was a gymnastics performance re-imagining Romeo and Juliet, staged in-the-round under purple lights. The kids were certainly talented with their trapeze work and props, but they gave it a happy ending "just because." The audience was bored, stunned, and covered in gymnasts' chalk dust. Applause was scattered, and we all got the hell out of there.

I just realized that Steven Spielberg is one of the lead producers of Smash. Has he not been paying attention?

R224: I’m inclined to believe Jesse Green’s skepticism re “Purpose,” since I thought “Appropriate” was a poor play, which was the Emperor’s New Clothes of last season. Great set-up, lazy follow through. It was the rage of the season because of the trendy cast and a wonderful bit of theatrical stagecraft at the end. And the critics were just as dazzled as many in the audience, alas.

Of course if I remember right, Jesse liked that one, so . . . .

Agree about Appropriate, r232. I couldn't believe how lame it was, including Sarah Paulson's thoroughly overrated performance.

Symphony Space? That dive? Couldn't she sell Carnegie Hall? Even Jinx Monsoon sold it out.

Symphony Space is a wonderful, historic hall, R234. Maybe you're joking, but if not, don't be such a freaking snob.

[quote]Agree about Appropriate, [R232]. I couldn't believe how lame it was, including Sarah Paulson's thoroughly overrated performance.

That's Tony Award Winner Sarah Paulson, to you Bitch.

[quote]Kenny Leon is such an incompetent director.

At the very least he shouldn't be directing Shakespeare.

I saw "Top Dog/Underdog" 2-3 years back and it was lovely.

Leon has done some good shows, but because his work has been so scattershot, I began to suspect a while ago that he's really not a good director and has just gotten lucky sometimes because of whom he was working with on particular projects. As I noted above, OUR TOWN made it pretty clear to me that he's very likely incompetent.

Kenny Leon’s production of Hamlet in Central Park was one of the biggest pieces of shit ever dumped willy nilly on a stage. It was truly horrific.

Symphony Space is a treasure. I worked on the finance deal that saved it from destruction. My prize was sitting at Rita Moreno’s table at the reopening gala. We saved the movie theater, too.

[quote]My prize was sitting at Rita Moreno’s table at the reopening gala.

I condole you, r240.

She was lovely.

Green's review of Puropose was condensed in the dek,, which indicated that the play had a great first act, then jumped the shark in the second. I agree.

How any director could fuck up Our Town is truly telling.

Saw Streetcar last night. The crowd was very young and hip. The actors, especially Patsy Ferran as Blanche, were fabulous. The staging was odd. Paul is a dreamboat.

The seats upstairs are like high chairs. You have to climb up on them, and if anyone needs to get by you have to haul your ass down, fold the chair, and let them squeeze by. The girl next to me kept pulling out her phone during the last 1/2 hour of the show.

Spielberg "producing" is emblematic of the dozens of exiled talents killed off by streaming who have gobs of money and just want to play and think they know theater. Former TV execs, former film studio heads, former whatever...This is also why all the catalogue shows -- Huey Lewis, Dolly -- are exploding. The culture and the real money has passed them by so they've come to Broadway, which will take anyone's money. A few LA types have done it right, but most are just captains without any real ships. And now with the hedge funds and actual active Hollywood types moving in it's only going to get worse . (Harry Potter, Stranger Things, Hunger Games, and evermore Disney.). Kiss today goodbye...

[quote]How any director could fuck up Our Town is truly telling.

Exactly, which is why that production finally convinced me that Leon is a person of minimal talent who somehow has established a major career anyway.

[quote] Exactly, which is why that production finally convinced me that Leon is a person of minimal talent who somehow has established a major career anyway.

...."somehow".....

Spielberg was a producer of the original Smash series. I'm just looking forward for fulfillment of what was supposed to happen a dozen years ago: a quickly-failed Broadway run.

The Best Musical Tony nominees this year will be the original stuff: Maybe Happy Ending, Dead Outlaw, Operation Mincemeat and Buena Vista Social Club. If there's a 5th, will it be Smash, Boop! or the Bobby Darin jukebox show? Will that Pirates! nonsense be classified new or revival?

What am I forgetting?

So SMASH kept the songs but created a new story and some new characters? Is Ivy still a cunt?

I think that "Death Becomes Her" will likely get a Best Musical nomination. The reviews were pretty strong for that one.

[quote]Green's review of Puropose was condensed in the dek,, which indicated that the play had a great first act, then jumped the shark in the second. I agree.

Or jumped the porpoise?

No, jumped the porpoose. A baby Native American porpoise.

Pass the pupusas.

GOODBYE PORPOISE SPIT!

SMASH and BOOP have no hopes for a "Best Musical" nomination. DOA

[quote] Spielberg "producing" is emblematic of the dozens of exiled talents killed off by streaming who have gobs of money and just want to play and think they know theater

Spielberg was an executive producer on the television series and had an interest clause that carried over to any other iteration of the piece, therefore he is credited but has nothing really to do with the Broadway show, It's strictly a financial interest.

But I would imagine that the Smash producers are thrilled to have Spielberg's name on it as a lead producer.

I imagine Thersa Rebeck as the original writer and show runner must be getting some kind of credit and royalty, too.

Gawd, you bitches just can’t help yourselves.

Audra Derangement Syndrome is definitely a thing. The should add it to the DSM.

R260 I don’t think it’s Audra Derangement Syndrome as much as it’s people like things as written.

It’s the same when Evita was revived a few years ago and Elena Rodger didn’t sing the songs like Patti LuPone and Elaine Paige.

She was rightly ripped to shreds.

God forbid there ever be anything different.

A brief tangent:

[quote]SMASH and BOOP have no hopes for a "Best Musical" nomination. DOA

Maybe there will be a chance for "Hazel" to sneak in!

No one has posted about Audra in hours, r260, but thank you so much for disingenuously stirring the pot.

Rumors flying The Kennedy Center is cancelling "Legally Blonde." Surprising, given that his press secretary is an Elle Woods lookalike (but has no brains or compassion.). Maybe it's because of "Gay or European"?

Or because the word "legally" makes them uncomfortable.

R260 is a racist from Buffalo.

[quote]The Best Musical Tony nominees this year will be the original stuff: Maybe Happy Ending, Dead Outlaw, Operation Mincemeat and Buena Vista Social Club. If there's a 5th, will it be Smash, Boop! or the Bobby Darin jukebox show? Will that Pirates! nonsense be classified new or revival?

I don't live in NY, but I get to visit every 1-2 years and I get targeted with ads for Broadway shows online all the time because of my prior history of purchasing tickets and browsing theatre topics. I legit had no idea there was a Buena Vista Social Club musical on Broadway right now. Hadn't seen a single ad for it. And I can't remember any of you bringing it up before.

Anyone seen it?

Oh really, R265? You mean after months and months there has been a slight two hour pause in the conflict? Even the cease fire in Gaza was longer than that.

I posted that five hours ago, r270. At that time there had been a *six* hour pause.

[quote]You mean after months and months there has been a slight two hour pause in the conflict?

I assume you mean the conflict between Audra's fans and the haters?

Spielberg insisted on Stroman directing Smash.

[quote]Rumors flying The Kennedy Center is cancelling "Legally Blonde." Surprising, given that his press secretary is an Elle Woods lookalike (but has no brains or compassion.). Maybe it's because of "Gay or European"?

I think the book/film/musical promote Affirmative Action (proto-DEI) which is how Elle gets into Harvard in the first place and ultimately triumphs.

(AA benefited white women, whereas DEI mainly focused on women of color.)

Crazy talk^. She got in because she aced the LSAT.

Was there another director seriously considered for Smash? Was there really another director seriously deluded enough to take it on?

Casey Nicholaw was their first choice but he's deep into HERCULES in The West End, and Disney demands full attention. (Which is one of the reasons Lear was let go...)

For a change, Casey dodged a bullet.

Having just seen the tour of "Some Like It Hot" its clear the post-Alladin, Casey relies on a relentless pace to make a show. It was frustrating. Plus Shaiman and Whitman made the inexcusable error of putting plot points and character information in lyrics, which get lost in the all the frenetic staging (and terrible, terrible sound). Would be nice to see the Casey of "Morman" back...

[quote]he's deep into HERCULES

Pics please.

This coming week:

The Late Show -- Jake Gyllenhaal plugs Othello on Monday

CBS Mornings -- Lea Salonga plugs Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends on Wednesday

The View -- LaTanya Richardson Jackson plugs Purpose on Thursday

[quote]Having just seen the tour of "Some Like It Hot" its clear the post-Alladin, Casey relies on a relentless pace to make a show. It was frustrating. Plus Shaiman and Whitman made the inexcusable error of putting plot points and character information in lyrics, which get lost in the all the frenetic staging (and terrible, terrible sound). Would be nice to see the Casey of "Morman" back...

ALADDIN

MORMON

CUNT

So Jamie Lloyd leaves his wife for a hot male chorine who’s in one of his own shows, while the show’s still running to boot, and this barely registers?

You bitches are slipping.

And they go to Philly, for fun?!

[quote] Jake Gyllenhaal plugs Othello on Monday

How much are tickets to THAT?

R113- they didn’t change the key. She was out of tune. It’s a different thing and no, I didn’t. I watched the rest of the show and enjoyed most of it.

R284. I posted their insta announcement in the last thread. I did not know he was married, I thought he was straight. The new guy will not last....

Jesse Greene made mincemeat of Operation Mincemeat. No golden checkmark.

Boop looks cute in those clips from the first preview.

A friend just attended “Othello,” paid $200 for a handicapped seat, and just hated it from beginning to end. “Not an actor on that stage can do Shakespeare,” she said, and then waxed nostalgically about the two Mark Rylance Shakespeare plays done in repertory on Broadway in 2013.

I couldn’t disagree. His “Richard III” and “Twelfe Night” were incredible theatrical experiences for me. You could feel the whole audience was rapt and we seemed to be a single organism, the energy flowing from the stage to the audience and back to the actors. It felt like we were all under the same spell. That’s theater.

And they weren’t done in modern dress or set in fascist Italy, or in no period at all but with frequent allusions to Trump. Just do the fucking play.

Even the thought of Mark Rylance as Olivia saying, "Malvoli-OH!" in Twelfth Night makes me laugh, and I never saw it onstage, only on DVD.

A master class

Rylance gets laughs even when playing the straight wo(man) in the scene.

Let’s see the Kennedy Center do that!

I recall seeing Angie Dickinson in a cross-gender production of Richard III and a theater near Rancho Mirage back in the 1980s and she was a revelation!

American actors and Shakespeare tend to not be a good match.

R296 = Blanche D.

Well, R297, there have been Irene Worth, Kevin Kline, Paul Rudd (not the movie star), Raul Julia, Meryl Streep, John Cazale, Blythe Danner, and a few dozen more I can think of. But I do agree the Brits have the edge because they're educated with Shakespeare.

Also, Christopher Walken, Philip Bosco, Harriet Harris...

I'm R297 and yeah, Shakespeare is a tough row to hoe for most American actors (and directors) obviously there are some top tier actors/directors who have pulled it off...it's just the exception rather than the norm.

As for Harriet Harris, I saw her (as Titania) and David Hyde Pierce as Lysander in a brilliant production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream directed by Liviu Ciulei at the Guthrie in 1986. It was gorgeous...a very sexy and provocative production.

R301, I don’t see that, but it was part of my research for my thesis. I was particularly struck by Ciulei’s Tempest, which was an island surrounded by a moat of blood with floating artifacts of Western culture. The Guthrie really swerved to extremely literal, crowd-pleasing repertoire and productions after Garland Wright left. But I was so fortunate to have seen many productions at the end of its heyday.

Unfortunately, I saw Harriet Harris as Ophelia (well, at least the 1st act) at the Public starring Kevin Kline. She was dreadful and he wasn't much better.

David Hyde Pierce played a great Laertes. God he sold his talent to have a tv sitcom.

[quote]I recall seeing Angie Dickinson in a cross-gender production of Richard III and a theater near Rancho Mirage back in the 1980s and she was a revelation!

Are you sure it wasn't at the Mr. Burt Reynolds Dinner Theatre?

I’ll never forget Joan Cusack in a godawful production of Cymbeline at the Public Theatre where she played Imogen like Lucille Ball as Lucy Ricardo as the Queen of the Gypsies on an I Love Lucy episode. It was unintentionally hilarious. JoAnne Akalaitis was the ghastly director,

As a big Kurt Weill fan, I'm insanely jealous of the NYers who will get to see this next week.

NYT preview of the upcoming Encores! Love Life...

R302 yeah, I was fortunate enough to see several productions at the Guthrie in the early mid 80s including brilliant productions of Anything Goes and Rhinoceros. I was looking over the list of all those productions in the 80s and early 90s and wish I could go back in time to see the ones I missed. Especially that Ciulei production of The Tempest....sounds amazing.

That era was so great because the big regionals had such great seasons of mostly classic works. Those days are now long gone. No one apparently wants to see classic works superbly done by professional theater artists.

Well, I do but I'm old.

The late 1970s/1980s was peak time for American regional theaters. Brilliant productions at not only the Guthrie, but also Long Wharf, Hartford Stage, McCarter, the Goodman, the Old Globe and ACT. Now their seasons are filled with Agatha Christie adaptations and new plays nobody wants to see.

And, if they do classic works, they'll "reframe" them for modern audiences...

"Come see our Media! They're now a trans black non binary womyn in a wheelchair who only kills their kids because the patriarchy forced them to!!!"

The only things I saw at the Guthrie were mid-70s. Private Lives with Patricia Conolly, Under Milkwood and a Weill-themed cabaret act with Alvin Epstein and Martha Schlamme

[quote] Come see our Media!

sigh

[quote]Rylance gets laughs even when playing the straight wo(man) in the scene.

Rylance got laughs too having his tiny dick sucked onscreen in "Intimacy".

Apparently, Jesse Eisenberg's next film is set backstage at a community theater's original musical and stars Julianne Moore, Paul Giamatti and Bernadette.

I could go for that. Adding an "original musical" and its composer, lyricist and book writer to the usual suspects in a community theater satire may well push it over the edge into greatness.

I hope Bernadette plays the modern equivalent of Arkadina at Kostya's play. A diva there to see her (in this case) grandchild plumb the depths.

[quote]Apparently, Jesse Eisenberg's next film is set backstage at a community theater's original musical and stars Julianne Moore, Paul Giamatti and Bernadette.

Sorry, but it's been done... and, I'm sure, much better than this copy.

[quote]The late 1970s/1980s was peak time for American regional theaters. Brilliant productions at not only the Guthrie, but also Long Wharf, Hartford Stage, McCarter, the Goodman, the Old Globe and ACT. Now their seasons are filled with Agatha Christie adaptations and new plays nobody wants to see.

Agreed. I was an 80's kid living in Canton OH. My parents took us to the Cleveland Orchestra, the Cleveland Art Museum (both among the worlds best) and they had subscription tickets to The Cleveland Playhouse. I saw productions there as a teenager that were directed and performed by actors who had careers in NY theater and much edgier plays many that were recently performed On or Off-Broadway. I saw some amazing productions there, and some that were meh but it was always exciting to GO and be surprised.

I saw a production at the Cleveland Playhouse about a guy in the 1960's who was a Quaker draft resister and somehow ended up in Scotland working with headbangers. It was, to this day, one of the most intense and exciting things I've ever seen. The last scene was a long, violent confrontation between one of the headbangers and the Quaker guy and it was riveting. Can't remember even the title now, but you could see something like that in regional theater in late 1980s

^just remembered the play was The Bovver Boys"

R317, did you see this fine young fellow on the left act at the Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival? What ever became of him?

R318

The Suedes are a gang of skin head toughs in a grimy Scottish industrial town. They live for "the bovver" vicious fighting with other skin heads. An American conscientious objector to the Vietnam War is assigned to serve at their community center hang out. This indomitable idealist reaches out to the gang, but only seems to cause more violence.

r319, LOL no, but my parents did they didn't realize it until they checked the old playbills

looking for the title I found the playbill online

I have to agree with you, R303.

I have to agree with you, R303.

Sorry for the duplicate post.

Just little over a month left of the '24-'25 season. Othello opens tonight, and The Picture of Dorian Gray on Thursday. Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends starts previews Tuesday, followed by Floyd Collins Thursday, and Stranger Things: The First Shadow on Friday.

Could there be anything more shallow and uninteresting than another movie making fun of "ordinary" people doing musicals. Enough already. Such an easy target, and it's been done.

Don't forget Real Women Have Curves, surely the dark horse of this Broadway musical season.

Any info or guesses on how it will be received?

Real Women Have Pussies.

R329. Not all.

Hard to imagine a Harriet Harris young enough to play Juliet.

Or pretty enough.

[quote]^just remembered the play was The Bovver Boys"

Maybe Broadway will produce a musical based on the Bowery Boys.

Do we think the critics will have the courage to call out "othello" for the piece of shit it is.? I don't think they have the courage to tell the truth about how bad it is.

[quote]On Broadway, handing out mandatory pouches that lock up audience members’ mobile phones is increasingly common. In recent years, they’ve been used during shows with nudity to prevent filming actors in the buff, or at comedy acts to keep surprises under wraps.

[quote]But there is no nakedness or brand new material over at William Shakespeare’s 420-year-old “Othello” at the Barrymore Theatre. Perhaps the required sealed bags are meant to keep the bored crowd from browsing Instagram.

[quote]Nearly everything about Kenny Leon’s direction exists on a spectrum of wishy-washy to thoughtless. Even the actors’ movement around the stage is clunky and mechanical.

[quote]It’s weird. “Othello” isn’t witty “Hamlet.” The play is not even as funny as “Macbeth.” Maybe it’s because they’re in the presence of celebrities. But I get the sense that the viewers are searching for something — anything — to grasp onto on this long, chilly ride they maxed out their credit cards to sit through. And they choose laughter. Laughs in lieu of gasps or tears.

I'm confused by the report that "Audra and company" sang "Some People" on a talk show. "Some People"" is not a group number.

R143- Means something to ME. I paid for a ticket to that performance!

This production's artistic decisions: Casting June and Louise as two different shades of brown, having the black newsboys being replaced by white farm boys, specifically deciding to stick with a white Herbie. Disagreeing with any of these artistic decisions is not racist in my opinion.

That pan is from The New York Post. I'm talking about the non-fake news critics.

[quote]Casting June and Louise as two different shades of brown

Jesus Christ, in the same post where you claim to not be racist.

OH MARY w/ Tituss: i liked this but missed the original cast. I noticed the cast spoke really fast throughout which made it less funny. Tituss was delightful, but this was tailor made for the OG cast in terms of chemistry between everyone.

SMASH: I really liked this and am fine seeing the highlights of Marilyn's life in numbers balanced with the backstage team's story. I've heard lots of changes have happened including social media jokes, weight jokes, and possibly song choices. It's great to hear preview period that the is being used to change things... even if it won't be everyone's cup of tea.

I understand wanting to move away from the TV show, but that could frustrate superfans of the show.

Brooks and the 3 leading ladies (an associate director steps in) were my faves. I did find it strange that they barely sounded like Marilyn when singing.

…frustrate superfans of the show.…

All three of them, fer sure!

People in the streets,..........

[quote]Casting June and Louise as two different shades of brown

[quote]Jesus Christ, in the same post where you claim to not be racist.

NO, it is NOT racist to point this out. Especially not when it has been stated that this was a very purposeful and specific point of the casting of those two roles for this production.

Keep trying to pretend that complaining about skin colour isn't racist. Does your black friend back you up on that one too?

r336'

I think someone confused some people with Together which was done on Kelly Clarkson's

I don't really see why any critics would feel a need to temper their criticisms of OTHELLO or Denzel.

Now, George Clooney, OTOH....

Just heard yesterday that the Broadway rights to Virginia Woolf are currently held by Kevin Bacon and Keira Sedgwick, of all people.

Go on then r338/r344, explain how it's so disastrous for the show, and do so without reliance upon racism.

The chatteratti over at BWW who've seen Smash multiple times make it sound like NO work is being done during previews. Same with Boop!

[quote]Go on then [R338]/[R344], explain how it's so disastrous for the show, and do so without reliance upon racism.

I personally don't think that casting is a mistake, but other people are allowed to fell and say that the feel it's a mistake on artistic grounds without being branded as racists, no matter how strongly YOU believe otherwise.

r351 So go on then, give the totally not racist explanation for why it's such a big artistic mistake. Even if you don't believe it yourself, you must know what it is to defend it as not racist. So explain.

In non-Gypsy news, I think Megan Hilty or Helen J. Shen nominations or wins could make the best actress Tony race more unpredictable. They seem to have gotten good reviews and their shows don't seem as controversial/upsetting as these revival versions of Sunset and Gypsy.

I'm impressed by the handful of Gypsy pearl-clutchers who are dedicated to boring us to death.

PURPOSE did not "jump the shark" in Act II. Some (like Jesse Green( may not like the way Act II progresses, unfolds or ends, but to suggest that it totally collapses is unequivocally false.

[quote]That pan is from The New York Post. I'm talking about the non-fake news critics.

Well, excuuuuuuse me! This is the only review out at this time:

[quote]“Othello” opens next Sunday on Broadway. But The Post has decided to review the show a week early after the production rescinded critic Johnny Oleksinski’s ticket because he wrote a column blasting their $921 prices. That’s OK. We bought our own.

'Ordinary people doing musicals' was being done in the 70s by Monty Python. I'm sure it goes back even before that.

R313 you've been watching too much porn. Rylance has a perfectly fine dick in Intimacy.

[quote] Just heard yesterday that the Broadway rights to Virginia Woolf are currently held by Kevin Bacon and Keira Sedgwick, of all people.

I'm not sure if this is true, but Kevin Bacon and Keira Sedgwick may have been fine as Nick and Honey years ago, but I hope they don't think they can pull off George and Martha?

KYRA, not Keira

[quote] Just heard yesterday that the Broadway rights to Virginia Woolf are currently held by Kevin Bacon and Keira Sedgwick, of all people....I'm not sure if this is true, but Kevin Bacon and Keira Sedgwick may have been fine as Nick and Honey years ago, but I hope they don't think they can pull off George and Martha?

Saw Bacon in a La MaMa show in the 80's downtown in a garage/warehouse called "Road". The set was a road and the audience followed the actors around. Bacon was really good. I'd see his production.

Anybody know why adorable Neil Haskel has left "Death Becomes Her" already? Was looking forward to seeing him.

Helen Shen is mediocre in “Maybe Happy Ending.” Her comic timing and delivery is okay but her singing voice is nasal and thin, and her stage presence struck me as amateurish. Criss was much better, more assured, more touching, a better singer.

Wasn't tonight opening night for Othello? Shouldn't the reviews have been posted by now? It's after 11:30 here on the east coast and so far nothing.

Othello's review embargo doesn't lift until midnight, so that everyone can enjoy the opening night party.

Ah, okay. Thank you, R364.

Here's the WSJ on "Othello": "The pity of it—so much talent deployed to such little effect."

Opening paragraph to VULTURE review: "Bad theater can be uniquely enraging. (Arguably, I’m here writing this because I once got very mad while watching a play.) But it can also be simply baffling. Who approved of this? What does this thing actually want to say? Is anyone in this room, onstage or off, having a good time? Why do the cops’ flak jackets say “Polizia” while the military uniforms have American flags on them? Does this play take place in a future where the U.S. has annexed Venice? "

[quote]Does this play take place in a future where the U.S. has annexed Venice?

Just wait.

[quote]Criss was much better, more assured, more touching, a better singer.

Now THERE'S a sentence you don't hear every day!

Othello fall down flat and go Boom.

I saw Denzel and Jake interviewed on CBS Sunday morning. Denzel was offended at being referred to as a Hollywood actor. Bitch, please. They were both annoying.

r313 I had to go look up old "Nude Mark Rylance Photos" to refresh my memory but I remembered correctly, he has a perfectly fine dick. Not tiny at all. Average-ish but since 85% of the male planet has a dick similar in size to his, it's quite fine.

But, I'm sure it doesn't compare to your monstrous 10 inch imaginary trouser snake...

" Othello" reviews.

As usual, Jesse Green goes easy on a bad production when it features famous actors and is the hottest thing on Broadway.

photo from BOVVER BOYS as discussed up thread.

corrected link to Bovver Boys photo

Tried linking to just the photo but it didn't work.

Jesse Green often seems to go out of his way to intentionally write VERY mixed reviews of show, following a praiseworthy paragraph with an extremely critical one, or vice-versa. Of course, to a certain extent, this can be viewed as admirable in that he takes the time to note the good as well as the bad, rather than opting for the equivalent of "This show is great, phenomenal, and perfect" or, conversely, "This show is shit." But Jesse sometimes swings back and forth so extremely that you -- or, at least, I -- end up not knowing how the feels about a show in general. I guess maybe he expects us to check and see whether or not he chose the show as a "critic's pick" for that.

Next season, Kenny Leon will be directing Yazmin Reza's "Art". Running time will be approximately 35 minutes.

Jennifer Holliday awkwardly makes "I am What I Am" sound like a parody of a Dreamgirls number. Yikes. I usually like her voice and this song but this is WRONG.

Eldergays in the biz, what is she like to work with?

Here's the link

It’s not a jolly Holliday with Jennifer.

Next season:

PRIVATE LIVES starring Andrew Scott and Phoebe Waller Bridge

Directed by some Brit twit.

is this the real casting?

And where -- London, New York, Buenos Aires?

I saw the Amandas of Maggie Smith, Patricia Conolly and Lindsay Duncan...I'm good.

r333, a Bowery Boys show on Broadway would be appropriate as that's where they got their start!

How about " Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? the Musical" starring Mario Cantone and Paula Poundstone as George and Martha. Wayne Brady as Nick and Dylan Mulvaney as Honey. Something for everyone.

Anything that makes "Art" or any Reza play shorter, is ok by me!

[quote]Jennifer Holliday awkwardly makes "I am What I Am" sound like a parody of a Dreamgirls number. Yikes. I usually like her voice and this song but this is WRONG.

She did great.

I think Andrew Scott is fabulously talented, but I've only seen him in film/TV. How is he on stage? I've actually met him. Well... that's a bit generous... we were once at the same event. I was the guest of a lowly D-lister, but I was struck by how tiny he was in person. I guess that's true of a lot of actors.

So this guy in army fatigues gets his panties in a twist over a handkerchief.

R382 As Coward falls into public domain we'll be seeing his plays again. Private Lives goes into PD in 2026 so this is right on time. I wonder if there'll be an adaptation.

We're also getting Kelli O'Hara in Fallen Angels in Spring 2026 at Roundabout. That one's already in public domain.

I'm surprised we didn't get a big starry Hay Fever already. Also The Vortex and Easy Virtue still work. The most recent film of Easy Virtue shows what a lovely play it is.

Maybe one of the companies that does old curios will take a stab at Home Chat.

Nude With Violin!

There's so much great stuff coming into public domain in the next decade...it will be interesting to see how many revivals we get.

And, R394, how many are "re-interpreted."

Nude with Violin is a hilarious play. I wish it'd get a revival instead of the tired Private Lives and this miscast Fallen Angels at Roundabout.

Flawed as it is, my favorite Coward play is Design For Living. I recall a great production at Williamstown in 1978 with Peter Evans, Patricia Elliott, Paxton Whitehead, and David Sabin. Directed by the late, great Gerald Gutierrez. The Raul Julia/Jill Clayburgh/Frank Langella production, directed by George C. Scott, at Circle In The Square was good, but the Roundabout production with Alan Cumming was horribly directed by Joe Mantello.

Coward is damn tricky.

I saw Hay Fever many decades with Rosemary Harris. I can't begin to imagine anybody today giving a performance of such gossamer hilarity. Anybody trying to do Coward now would be the heavy heavy hand on the wrong note. Magic in a bottle.

R399. I saw that production, too. Harris was divine and the rest of the cast was perfection.

Sorry left out the 'ago.' Yes, the entire cast was perfection.

Oh, I'm sure Scott Ellis and Rose Byrne and Kelli O'Hara know their way around Coward.

Not!

Maggie also had a knack for Coward...

Tammy Grimes and Brian Bedford in Private Lives were also perfection.

Noel & Gertie

Olivia Colman would be a hilarious Judith Bliss in Hay Fever. With Richard E. Grant as the husband. And Aimee Lou Wood as Jackie OR Sorel.

American actors can handle Shakespeare just fine...if they know how to connect to the language. If they don't (e.g., most TV actors) it's fucking painful.

R407 Most don't. And, American actors tend to race through it....they're so terrified of it they just want to get it over with.

Bernadette. First preview of Sunday....

R397, I had never heard of "Design for Living" when I bought tickets for a production at The Shaw Festival in Canada back in 2006. A delightful show, broaches some tricky sexual arrangements, ends nicely. I encouraged friends to see a production in the Berkshires several years later.

Coward's work is tricky as someone upthread noted... the Berkshire show lacked that certain something... not a flop but not great either.

Charles Busch is playing the lead in a reading of Hay Fever next month in NYC.

R411 I wish it was a run of some kind. Charles is always a delight on stage. I really enjoyed his last play, Isben’s Ghost.

Olivia Colman is one of few actors I'd pay a lot of money to see on Broadway.

I would like to see Private Lives with a gender-swapped "Amanda", please. Not as a gimmick but because I think it would play better to modern audiences.

The most problematic thing about the play today is that Elyot has hit Amanda in the past, and that they get into physical tussles in front of us. Make "Amanda" a man of similar size to Elyot and the physical stuff is reduced again to the racy comedy it was in the 1930s, because in fact it was never a relationship where Elyot is being abusive and Amanda is being harmed: it's an erotic war between two partners neither of whom will cede control. But I'm not sure any director will be able to make audiences see that after #metoo with a woman in the role.

You wouldn't need to change the genders of the supports, because the lesson Elyot and Amanda have (erroneously) learnt from their marriage is that any future partners should be unchallenging. This is why they are already bored with them before the new marriages have started. So Sybil can still be a petite, conventional woman and Victor the gallant gentleman type who will defer to a partner he (erroneously) perceives as needing his protection after a marriage in which s/he was a tragic victim. Which, serendipitously, Sybil really is at the end.

^ UGH. It's a gimmick.

Thank you, Miss Mezzepa.

R414-That was my problem with the Alan Rickman/Lindsay Duncan revival. The physical violence in the second act took me right out of the play and it never recovered.

R417. That production also ended with Victor slapping and choking Sibyl. I remember the audience roaring with laughter. That wouldn't happen today.

I dunno. People apparently laughed at Anora.

Rickman (RIP) had a particularly villainous look so I can see why any violent shit in Private Lives wouldn’t have been the wisest choice,

But I remember that the Rickman/Duncan PRIVATE LIVES received rave reviews and was a bit hit. Yes, things have changed SO MUCH even since then in terms of what audiences will tolerate in older plays and musicals.

^^^sorry, I meant "big hit."

Nicole has added six SB performances to her schedule between now and closing which means Mandy is getting screwed out of six performances as Norma and people who bought tickets specifically to see Mandy are not allowed to exchange them. I guess producers are trying to get as much money back as possible before they close in July. Sucks for Mandy though.

I didn't much like the Rickman/Duncan PRIVATE LIVES . I found him somewhat creepy and her robotic. But then, I had seen the Grimes/Bedford production, which was absolute perfection.

I imagine Nicole has added the performances to give Tony voters (and other award voters) more opportunities to see her. The producers are probably even inviting the Tony nominators back to see the show again to remind them how much they loved it.

[quote]I didn't much like the Rickman/Duncan PRIVATE LIVES . I found him somewhat creepy and her robotic. But then, I had seen the Grimes/Bedford production, which was absolute perfection.

Maggie Smith's "Private Lives" in 1975 was my first Broadway show. She was brilliantly funny.

[Quote] and people who bought tickets specifically to see Mandy are not allowed to exchange them.

Those will be 5 very unhappy people!

Who is Mandy?

Did she come and give without taking?

On a trip to London my mom took me along to see "Design for Living" with Vanessa Redgrave. I was thirteen and got absolutely nothing out of it.

The Rickman-Duncan "Private Lives" was great BECAUSE it took the slap scene seriously. On the night I saw it in NYC the whole audience gasped in horror. You immediately realized why these people's relationship was so fucked up.

Good Night, and Good Luck made more than $3 million last week. Discuss.

[quote]The Rickman-Duncan "Private Lives" was great BECAUSE it took the slap scene seriously. On the night I saw it in NYC the whole audience gasped in horror. You immediately realized why these people's relationship was so fucked up.

Okay, but then does that mean the end of the play is a not happy one?

Maybe?

interesting thing, and some may disagree, but I think playing Coward successfully is beyond the grasp of many actors today, even English actors. I think it's a generational thing and an understanding of the rhythms of his writing. Also, Coward's worldview is very much that of the British cultural elite, and not at all woke. Coward is really not open to "interpretations" it's all on the page and if you don't get it, you shouldn't try it.

Why would Nicole take performances away from Mandy? I thought he was touring in concert since Homeland was cancelled?

The one with Toby Stephens was pretty violent as well.

Maggie Smith and Robert Stephens had a huge hit, early 1970s, in London with Private Lives. By the time it transferred to Broadway, Smith and Stephens had had a nasty breakup so John Standing did the run in NY and LA.

[quote]r436 = so John Standing did the run in NY and LA

There were other US cities on the tour.

The problem with those kinds of drawing room comedies from that era is the fact that they need to be performed a very certain way...there's an airyness to them and you have to hit those comic beats in just the right way or it all falls apart. It's a very stylized form of acting AND it takes actors who know how to play that as well as directors who know how to direct that way as well. The same is true of specific kinds of "New York" broad comedy where you need that inflection. The Producers would be a good example of that and Neil Simon plays.

Hell, most farce and satire is now a chore to sit through because younger theater makers don't "get" how you play those things.

People really are getting dumber.

Nicole can shimmy all she wants; Audra is winning the Tony

I thought Audra was all wrong for the part and my black friend agrees with me. And don’t get me started on her voice type…

I think Audra would be magnificent in Private Lives and if you disagree you’re a racist.

I saw Maggie Smith in that Broadway revival of Private Lives in the 1970s and it was truly remarkable how she made that 5 hander (if you include the maid) seem like a one-woman vehicle for herself. You realized how Amanda was the only person who mattered on that stage.

I don't think Audra is a shoo in.

There is competition this year and hopefully Tony voters will think she's had sufficient.

Because she has.

[quote]I thought Audra was all wrong for the part and my black friend agrees with me. And don’t get me started on her voice type…

ESAD, 440. That's an acronym, and I hope you can figure it out.

Troll harder, r440...c'mon, you can do it.

Re: acting Noel Coward — Whoever directed the recent revival of Coward’s Present Laughter starring Andrew Scott (streaming on National Theatre at Home) got it all wrong. The cast is largely very good, but they’re nearly all acting like they’re coked to the gills, which I’m blaming on the director (sorry, too lazy to look it up). Yes, a lot of the jokes still land, but it’s so heavy-handed when it should be, as R438 said, airy. Blithe spirits, if you will. Indira Varma and Sophie Thompson know how to play it, and Scott barely gets out alive. Also, an unnecessary gender change for one character somehow makes nearly everyone on stage bisexual. The set is pretty bad, too.

You need a Susannah York or a...Joan Collins.

[Quote] I don't think Audra is a shoo in. There is competition this year and hopefully Tony voters will think she's had sufficient. Because she has.

Audra deserves the Tony. Whether voters think she has enough and vote for someone else is another question. She is one of the greatest portrayers of among the greatest roles of musical theater. It would be pathetic is someone else got the Tony

[quote]You need a Susannah York or a...Joan Collins.

I need a Tom Collins.

Or a vodka stinger.

It's Audra's. Enough.

So who's head will be ripped apart when neither Denzel, Jake or the shitty production get Tony nominations?

Why are Sutton and Kelli touring together? It's not that awful Carol Burnett/Julie Andrews thing they tried at Carnegie Hall, is it?

[quote]It's not that awful Carol Burnett/Julie Andrews thing they tried at Carnegie Hall, is it?

It was a huge hit...........

[quote]r449 = —Stritchie

Speaking of Coward...

I think Jake will get a nomination, but they could very possibly ignore Denzel.

[quote]You realized how Amanda was the only person who mattered on that stage.

My sentiments exactly.

I could never get Noel to see it that way, however.

Dear Miss Carrington...

R446, pleased to meet you! I couldn't agree with you more about that Present Laughter, but everyone I knew said it was maahvellous. It's meant to be a slow build for Garry from customarily snippy at the start to full breakdown in the last Act, but Scott started hysterical and it left him nowhere to go. It was like watching "Not Getting Married" for two and a half hours. He wouldn't have "got out barely alive" except that that character has some of the best comic lines in British theatre. The gender swap seemed gratuitous to me too, and I'm the one who asked to see a male Amanda. The errant director was Matthew Warchus, best known for the Matilda musical.

I do think if we're capable of doing Stoppard well we should still be capable of doing Coward well, but maybe both will end up lost because audiences need everything underlined. (Stoppard isn't ONLY light, but if you can't get the foamy surface right in something like Jumpers or Arcadia, you won't persuade anyone to eat the pudding below.)

Denzel is too big a celebrity to be ignored for a Tony nom. He will bring in viewers who might not otherwise watch the show. The fact that he doesn't deserve a nomination means nothing .

I remember when Dustin Hoffman wasn't nominated for "Death of a Salesman," and doubt that would happen now.

Ask Tom Hanks...

I saw a very stylized Design for Living in London many years ago with Jude Law, Rupert Graves and Rachel Weisz. The boys were gorgeous and delightful but she was stunning. Very young but already had the look and glow of a star. Many years later, I talked to her at a party and she told me what fun they had doing the show.

I don't know how DESIGN FOR LIVING ends because I so hated the most recent Roundabout production that I fled at intermission. I need to read it.

Looking at the list of Tony-eligible plays this season, Denzel and Jake might indeed both get nominated, alongside George Clooney, Cole Escola and... someone else. Best Actress is going to be FAR more competitive.

New Plays All In: Comedy About Love

Cult of Love

English

Good Night, and Good Luck

JOB

John Proctor Is the Villain

Left on Tenth

McNeal

Oh, Mary!

Purpose

Stranger Things: The First Shadow

The Hills of California

The Picture of Dorian Gray

The Roommate

Play Revivals Eureka Day

Glengarry Glen Ross

Home

Othello

Our Town

Romeo + Juliet

Yellow Face

I want to know what they're going to do with Glengarry Glen Ross. Actors in that show are traditionally considered featured, but this time around, Culkin, Odenkirk, and Burr all have above the title billing. I'm going to assume that Burr is definitely going to be petitioned as featured.

[quote]I remember when Dustin Hoffman wasn't nominated for "Death of a Salesman," and doubt that would happen now.

Watching him work so hard to play that role exhausted me. Some critics compared him favorably to Lee J. Cobb. Those critics were idiots.

Burr was excellent. He deserves a Tony. Micheal McKean was also great and deserves a nomination.

Well, obviously Cole Escola is getting a nomination..though isn't "they" a non binary?

I'm guessing if he's Tony hungry he'll be a he.

Someone from Glengarry will get a Best Actor nom and someone from Purpose.

Best actor race does seem slim this year. It'll be hard to NOT nominate one of the big names like Denzel, Clooney or even maybe Robert Downey Jr.?

Did any of those short run plays make any sort of mark?

As long as I am nominated and not that awful actress from Rosemary’s Baby, I’ll be FINE!

Jake and Denzel will be snubbed. The got genuinely awful reviews. Kulkin will match his Oscar win.

Denzel got genuinely awful reviews, but Jake got mixed reviews -- some critics loved him, others didn't.

GG producers will petition to have only Culkin nominated in the lead category. And he will win. And Audra will win.

Whether fair or not, some things are just pre-ordained.

David Rasche should be nominated for "Cult of Love." My favorite performance this year.

R466-The tv movie of the Hoffman Death Of A Salesman was shown on TCM the other night. I watched the last 30 minutes. I said it when I saw the production and I stand by my original assessment. Hoffman reminded me of Tim Conway as the little old man on the Carol Burnett Show.

I'm not a George C Scott fan in movies. I know sacrilege.

But his Present Laughter at the Roundabout was delightful. Who would have thought it? And his Willy Loman there as well was one of the greatest performances I've seen. With Theresa Wright!

Langella wasn't bad at all in Present Laughter with that very good young actor showing a very handsome naked back which set up a very funny visual joke. On the way out leaving the theater the actor was at the door holding a basket for AIDS funding and the lady in front of me told him he had a cute butt. He turned beet red.

[quote]Ask Tom Hanks...

Or Daniel Radcliffe

I saw Present Laughter in 1960 with Frances Farmer and Reginald Gardner and laughed my 9 year old ass off.

[quote]And Audra will win. Whether fair or not, some things are just pre-ordained.

Oh Honey, your are nutz if you think they won't anoint Nicole Scherzinger the bright new Broadway Star! She will even open the show. If anything is per-ordained, The Tony is probably engraved already.

You really think Cynthia Erivo is going to let anyone else open the show but her? Maybe a 'surprise' appearance by Ariana Grande, but that's it

R472, at least Culkin won’t have category fraud committed on his behalf for a second time this year so far.

I expect Jon Michael Hill from PURPOSE to be nominated. He's the true lead in that show. And then there will be Cole Escola and George Clooney. That leaves two spots. I agree that David Rasche from CULT OF LOVE should also be nominated, so that leaves one spot. Daniel Dae Kim in YELLOW FACE was fine, but it's Francis Jue who will likely be nominated from that show, and in Featured, not Lead. Let's see how the GGR folks position their actors. Easily two of them could nab spots in the less-competitive lead category if that's where they are campaigned, possibly even three given the weak-tea nature of this category this year. So maybe it is possible for Denzel and Jake to get what they actually deserve: bupkis.

[quote]I'm not a George C Scott fan in movies. I know sacrilege. But his Present Laughter at the Roundabout was delightful. Who would have thought it? And his Willy Loman there as well was one of the greatest performances I've seen. With Theresa Wright!

Those production were at Circle-in-the-Square, not the Roundabout. Please don't give the Roundabout any more credit than they deserve.

None of the Cult of Love actors were ruled as being in the lead category. They all were billed below the title.

Reginald Gardiner played the character not very loosely based on Noel Coward in movie of "The Man Who Came to Dinner."

And Gertie is Lorraine.

Played by none other than Oomph Girl Ann Sheridan in the film!

Nude with Violin is one of the plays with no movie version, but there are two British tv versions and one Australian one, plus an audio version. The concept is still pretty funny but the text might need a very gentle sensitivity touch up.

I know Nicole Scherzinger is a looney Christian, therefore a moron but is she a conservative MAGAt to, and is this widely known?

And if it is, will this have an impact on Tony voters? Or do most only care about the theater box office?

I'm not even an Audra fan and think she's miscast as Rose but anyone who thinks she won't win that Tony is crazy.

George Clooney? I saw that show on Saturday afternoon, and I'll be astonished if it -- or he -- gets good notices. Nothing he's doing on that stage reads past the fifth row, and the play itself is the definition of a non-event.

I do wonder how much in control David Cromer is of Clooney and the play. I don't think he's really capable of or interested in working with stars. Meaning, stars overwhelm his usually fine instincts.

Interesting take, R491. What makes you say that? The awful misfire that was the Stiller/Falco/JJL version of THE HOUSE OF BLUE LEAVES?

Cromer has provided a characteristically elegant and visually attractive production, but it's hard to imagine what more he could have done. Clooney's performance would be less of an issue with a more interesting text, but it winds up dull liberal agitprop.

[quote]and the play itself is the definition of a non-event.

Do they serve non-event toast at intermission?

Audra blew me away as Rose. I had my doubts but was stunned she actually showed a point of view that was completely original--something I never seen in the many Roses I've seen. She deserves this Tony.

Her performance continues to haunt me, even months later.

R462, I also saw that production and enjoyed it. Do you remember an American actress (or a Brit doing an accent) who was in it, who had some funny hat and was going down the stairs of a ship rattling away her lines? We couldn't figure out if this actress was brilliant or awful, but she was mesmerizing.

Also, R462, wasn't it Rupert Everett, not Graves?

Saw JOHN PROCTOR IS THE VILLAIN, thought I would hate it and was pleasantly surprised. Sometimes expectations are everything. It's a little slow getting started with a lot of exposition but once it gets in gear it's pretty good and the ending is great.

Tituss out of Oh Mary! tonite

Lindsay Mendez has gone on in his place.

Audra can only win the Tony this year if she gives back a couple she didn't really deserve from the past.

Oh my God R482 you're right! Of course it was Circle in the Square. Sheesh.

[quote]I'm not even an Audra fan and think she's miscast as Rose but anyone who thinks she won't win that Tony is crazy.

I really don't think Audra's Tony win for GYPSY is a done deal, because (1) she already as SO many, and (2) I think maybe some people are getting tired of her missing so many performances, whether for scheduled or unscheduled absences.

Alexander Woollcott, the eponymous Man Who Came to Dinner, was a friend of Coward's but deplored Coward's tendency to sentimentality. In particular, he made much of his loathing of the lines from A Room With a View, "Maybe the stork will bring/Dis, dat and t'other thing/To our room with a view."

Learning that despite this wise counsel Coward was going to sing the song as written at one of his early cabaret performances, Woollcott bought a table close to the front on opening night. On that line everyone at the table pulled out a paper bag and mimed being sick in it.

I think there should be more of that.

Clive Revill, who just died at 94, played Sheridan Whiteside in “Sherry,” the musical based on “The Man Who Came to Dinner.”

After replacing original star George Sanders, R504.

. . . after Sanders dropped out.

[quote]I really don't think Audra's Tony win for GYPSY is a done deal, because (1) she already as SO many, and (2) I think maybe some people are getting tired of her missing so many performances, whether for scheduled or unscheduled absences.

Do eldergay shut-ins represent the majority of Tony voters? If not, I don't think Audra has anything to worry about.

r502 So many, huh? So how many is it in total?

R508, are you new? She has six, the most awarded to any performer. She is the only actor to have ever won in each category.

r509 I was talking about her "so many missed performances"

R510. I do not think she has missed that many scheduled performances. The company PR has made it clear that there were members of the company who were sick, not AM per se. It was rumored that they did not have enough kids for some of the performances that were canceled. I have seen the show twice and I have never seen such a transformation on stage. She becomes a monster right before our eyes in that last number. It is something extraordinary, something we might never witness again. I have been an obsessive theatre goer and I do not think I have ever seen such a moment in my life. Mind you, I was sitting 7th and 9th row orchestra. I think being close helps a lot here. I am also a fan of NS Norma....I have loved that show since last year at the Savoy. She gives another incredible performance and, yes, that MAGA business surely surprised me. I think I would vote for Audra....

Best production of PRESENT LAUGHTER I've seen was the Two River production directed by David Lee (Frazier/Cheers) with Michale Cumptsy and a very strong supporting cast of NY actors. Cole Escola played Roland. I've seen the recent Broadway revivals and the 2 in London. Only the Donald Sinden production in the early 80's really got the play.

R468 Based on performances and in no particular order, I think I'd do Cole Escola, Jake Gyllenhaal, Kit Connor, Jon Michael Hall, Peter Friedman. Haven't seen George Clooney yet.

[quote]I have seen the show twice and I have never seen such a transformation on stage. She becomes a monster right before our eyes in that last number.

Or another way to phrase it is that she completely, totally loses all control of her performance and just starts screaming in "that last number," which is NOT how it's supposed to be done and not how it was done by any previous Rose -- except maybe Patti LuPone on certain nights :-)

Clooney? No matter how good he may be, they tend to snub the slumming movie star.

[quote] I do not think she has missed that many scheduled performances. The company PR has made it clear that there were members of the company who were sick, not AM per se.

Well, a few weeks ago she had three scheduled absences to attend the funeral of her father-in-law, and then three unscheduled absences right afterward for reasons that were never stated, so she only performed once that week.

So six? That's it? You think she won't get the Tony because of six missed performances? Have you lost your tiny mind?

[quote] I have never seen such a transformation on stage. She becomes a monster right before our eyes in that last number. It is something extraordinary, something we might never witness again.

EXCUSE ME!?!

Anyone see DORIAN yet? Two friends have told me it is incredibly good and not to be missed.

Those clips of the Encores' Love Life look embarrassingly amateurish.

[quote]So six? That's it?

No, not six performances total, six in that ONE WEEK. Or maybe seven, I'm not sure.

Magically found an extra one did you? Go on then, what's the grand total?

By the way, you can't include the cancelled shows given that wasn't just on her and wasn't in her control.

No, R522, I didn't magically find another one, I meant I'm not sure if her total performances missed for that one week was six or seven. And I'm not including the entire week of performances canceled early on because no one seems to know for sure exactly why they were canceled. But since then, there have been other unscheduled Audra absences that received little or no publicity, and that's NOT including the week in which she missed six or seven.

So, again, what's the total? You said it was so many that it'd cost her the Tony, so you must know, right? And it must be a massive number.

Or, was it just a pathetic attempt by a sad old queen to bring up the same old whining point that you bring up every time her name is mentioned?

I had tickets to a cancelled performance in December. I was disappointed, but got to see Cult of Love, which I enjoyed and would have missed.

Since I live out of town, I won’t see Gypsy until this week. Annoying and disappointing as it was, I really wouldn’t want to see anyone play Rose if they’re sick. Peters plowed through, and damaged her reputation for the entire run.

R504 I think SHERRY! was the musical that Ed Sullivan announced onstage Dolores Gray was "starving in on Broadway."

Saw George Clooney in the Broadway’s record breaking “Good Night and Good Luck.” Audience loved it.

It’s a stylish update of the movie. It’s, reasonably well acted (although, since it’s mostly about a TV news reporter, much of the “acting” involves sententious script reading), diverting and Very politically on point.

What it’s NOT, is worth several hundred dollars a seat (got somewhat cheaper, Mezzanine seats early). Yet, the (very large) Winter Garden Theatre was packed !

And it’s still in the final week of previews . . .

[quote] Audra blew me

Pics please!

Audra has aged into the Meryl Streep phase. Just nominate her and let her show up and walk the red carpet, sit in the front row and applaud graciously at losing then call it a night

Audra played two performances that week. Three absences were scheduled and three were not. The box office dropped by $890,000 (somewhere around there).

I played Sheridan Whiteside in high school to great acclaim.

Aren't Audra and Meryl besties? I'm sure M is offering her guidance on how to play the humble, self-deprecating, grand dame.

Sounds like Titus being out last night caused a clusterfuck at Oh Mary. There was no email, no announcement posted in the lobby and they placed the slip of paper announcing it deeper in the Playbill than the other piece of paper announcing the other understudied performance. Then in the lobby once people started to complain, FOH staff were telling people there were no refunds and there was no point in talking to the box office, while the box office were actually issuing refunds. Curtain was about 15 minutes late because the lobby was packed with people complaining.

R533, sounds like another appalling example of how, even when Broadway producers have a hit, they're so greedy that they often treat paying customers like feces. See also, how Lindsay Mendez's very frequent absences from MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG were hushed up. F#(k them!

[quote]Sounds like Titus being out last night caused a clusterfuck at Oh Mary.

Isn't this his FIRST week?

And it's not even a musical!

R533. That sounds very 'David Merrick'. When Ginger Rogers was in Dolly she was out quite a bit and Merrick would have an announcement made that the role of MRS LEVI would be played by Bibi Osterwald. Then the overture started up and the box office shutdown. Very sneaky.

How did they handle Madeline Kahn's frequent absences during her run in On the Twentieth Century? Was she fired? Why did she miss so many performances? Did she ever appear again on Broadway?

Kahn not only appeared on Broadway again but won a Tony for The Sisters Rosensweig. She also starred opposite Ed Asner in a flop revival of Born Yesterday.

I don't think she ever starred in another Broadway musical though.

Madeline had previously done Two By Two.

Yup, Kahn never did another Broadway musical. I wonder if any were offered to her. She did, however, sing "Getting Married Today" during 1992's Sondheim: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall.

I wonder if Madeline would have considered doing an Encores! production.

Kahn was Tony nominated for 20th Century and showed up at the ceremony. She did Hello, Dolly! In stock a few years before she passed away.

[quote]I wonder if Madeline would have considered doing an Encores! production.

I think she would have, r542.

An Encores! production would probably have been ideal for Madeline Kahn, because apparently she was neurotic about not overtaxing her voice, but for a one- or two-weekend run, that wouldn't really have been an issue.

[quote]Anyone see DORIAN yet? Two friends have told me it is incredibly good and not to be missed.

I saw it in Sydney, where most people also swooned over it. Not me. You know what Andrew Scott did in Vanya? Well, it's essentially that, but for people who like MTV. It's the same feat, except with shallow characters, a Gothic storyline and a lot more video. And please someone tell me why it always stars a woman, when there is only one woman of any importance at all in its story about [gay] men? I enjoy Sarah Snook's stage performances, but this is such a superficial, showy challenge I can't see what she can add.

Anyhoo, if you guys want to embrace Kip Williams and put him to work in New York instead of here, God bless and keep you.

Kahn didn't do another musical on Broadway, but she did that 1-night ANYONE CAN WHISTLE (later released on CD), and she had a short tour in HELLO, DOLLY!, of all things. A strange career.

Darren Criss is winning the Tony no matter what. He'll win either for acting or producing. He'll be halfway to EGOT. What the fuck?

It wasn't a tour, r547.

Sad to think but I wonder if Kahn already had her cancer diagnosis when she did Dolly and needed the money. Or perhaps just wanted to play that character before she died. She was on The Cosby Show for a season or two as a wacky neighbor, work that was really beneath a great talent like her, but I guess she needed the work.

When I was a college student in Boston, I saw her in the Two by Two tryout steal the show from Danny Kaye with just that one number and some comic bits. I also saw her (was it the year before?) featured in How Now Dow Jones but IIRC her part was cut by the time the show opened on Broadway. It didn't need her and Brenda Vaccaro.

What Andrew Scott manages to do in Uncle Vanya is far superior to the overly theatrical antics of Sarah Snook in Dorian Gray.

He brilliantly plays all the parts without so much as changing a costume or adding a mustache. And there's no video; he doesn't need any frills. There's barely even a plot yet you're transfixed emotionally watching him.

It looks like I was wrong, r547.

[quote]She was on The Cosby Show for a season or two as a wacky neighbor

She didn't do "The Cosby Show." She was a regular on "Cosby." She did 83 out of 95 episodes.

Two things:

1. Did Cosby (the '90s series) tape in Brooklyn? I know The Cosby Show did. That might have been appealing to Madeline, staying on the East Coast.

2. Didn't Madeline also have a role cut from Promises, Promises?

Who's ready for the filmed version of " Othello"?

[quote]Denzel Washington's latest venture in the world of Shakespeare could become a feature film adaptation if the Oscar-winning actor's hopes are realized. The Washington-led Broadway production, Othello, may get the big-screen treatment, with its director revealing talks about a potential movie are underway.

[quote]Speaking during Othello's red carpet premiere with The Hollywood Reporter, director Kenny Leon shared that he and Washington are "absolutely" discussing the potential of a film adaptation. Though Leon admits he isn't sure how the play would translate to the big screen, he believes the adaptation must convey the same truth the Broadway version does to stay connected to the real story.

R555 I have read some of his reviews....why would he want to immortalize a bad/mediocre performance? I am sure he has heard by now how awful his performance is.

Indeed, R556. It would be a huge ego trip to make a movie of OTHELLO after the reviews of Denzel's stage performance. On the one hand, the performance may come across somewhat better in a movie in terms of his acting, but on the other hand, it will be even more obvious on the big screen that Denzel is way too old for the role.

Better a female version with RuPaul as Othello , Julia Roberts as Iago, and Elliot Page as Desdemona.

...and Jerry Mathers as The Beaver.

Does anyone remember the Coen Bros. Macbeth film starring Denzel and 3-time Oscar winner Frances McDormand as Lady M from just a few years ago?

No, I didn't think so.

Wait. She missed 3 performances to attend the funeral of her father in law? What were they fucking?

R561 who?

Scott Rudin will return to producing theater. Lost of interesting projects listed.

This fall he plans the first Broadway production of “Little Bear Ridge Road,” a play by Samuel D. Hunter that was staged last year in Chicago by Steppenwolf Theater Company. The New York production, like the one in Chicago, will star Metcalf and will be directed by Mantello. Next spring Rudin plans to stage “Montauk,” a new play by David Hare, also starring Metcalf and directed by Mantello. The following season he says he hopes to revive “Death of a Salesman” in a production with Metcalf and Nathan Lane, again directed by Mantello.

This fall he plans to stage a Broadway production of “Cottonfield,” a new play by Bruce Norris, which Rudin said would be directed by Robert O’Hara. The collaboration is noteworthy because Rudin and Norris had a publicized falling-out in 2012; Rudin has been known to torpedo and then rebuild relationships over the course of his stormy career.

Kahn also did a memorable Cunegonde in a staged version of CANDIDE. There's a bootleg of the show out there.

From the article about Rudin:

[quote]He said that he had made the “profound mistake” of believing that “anything and anybody who got in the way of what I was trying to do could cause it to fail.”

And how exactly did he think that the lowly assistants he bullied and threw things at were "in the way" of what he was trying to do and might cause it to fail?

Whatever this man is now, he definitely was a mentally unstable, rage-filled creature. I sincerely hope he has changed, but for all his therapy, he doesn't seem to have a full understanding of what the problem was, and how severe.

I couldn’t imagine working for someone that was in a rage all the time and screamed at people

R566. Amen to that.

They could do "Glengarry Glen Ross" without sets and the guys can sit on the stage cross legged and the audience imagine the desks.

R568 Why even go, at that point? Just stay home and pop a pill!

Will any of these Rudin projects ever see the light of day?

Personally, I hope so. One of his only misses in theater was The Music Man, which he exited because he had been cancelled. Sutton Foster threatened to leave if he stayed. That alone would have made that production a thousand times more bearable.

R570,

Yes. I predict at least 80% of these projects will happen. It's commercial theatre, and Rudin gets things done. And even though he's an asshole, he's got taste.

[quote]“Death of a Salesman” in a production with Metcalf and Nathan Lane

I *knew* it was a comedy!

[quote]Kahn also did a memorable Cunegonde in a staged version of CANDIDE.

Only because Barbara Cook could no longer sing Glitter and Be Gay. And it was a concert celebrating Lenny's 50th.

It’s interesting how he’s basically just a one man producing person for Laurie Metcalf at this point

[quote]“I think Laurie is the greatest actress in America,” Rudin said.

Well, that's a ridiculous statement, but I suspect she herself agrees with it. I do think she's very talented, but she has limits that she and others don't seem to recognize. And before her latter-day Broadway career was stopped by the pandemic, she had started to become something of a hog in doing one Broadway show after another, including that horrendous last one to date.

R575. Obviously he's never seen her hammy performance on Roseanne.

For at least a decade or more, Denzel has been one of the laziest actors extant, whether it be on stage or on film. What's the point of continuing a career, when you just don't give a fuck anymore? Please retire, Den. And we don't want your fucking Lear either.

Nor do we want your son’s crappy film version of The Piano Lesson.

This seems like the only appropriate place to pose this question but, speaking of Denzel, does anyone think his son, John David Washington, can actually play a black person?

Imma askin’ for Audra.

Rather than Death of a Salesman I wish Rudin would get that Virginia Woolf with Laurie, Rupert Everett, Russell Tovey and Patsy Ferran back on the boards. I think he was the lead producer on that, wasn't he?

With 20 posts left in this one, here's the new thread.

Show of hands, did anyone watching Roseanne circa 1988 think that one of the cast was going to be so prolific on Broadway?

I love Matcalf, but that's a lotta Metcalf.

R577, I'm curious, why do you see Denzel as "lazy?" I think he's not quite as good an actor as he thinks he is, but if anything, I'd say he works more often than he should, which of course does not equal "lazy."

[quote]Rather than Death of a Salesman I wish Rudin would get that Virginia Woolf with Laurie, Rupert Everett, Russell Tovey and Patsy Ferran back on the boards. I think he was the lead producer on that, wasn't he?

Yes, I'm surprised that project hasn't been resurrected. Maybe one or more of the names involved is/are no longer interested, and the rest don't want to do it under those circumstances? I checked, and the producers were indeed listed as Scott Rudin/Barry Diller/David Geffen.

Ugh. Nathan Lane in another bid to establish himself as a great, serious actor. I’ll pay money to sit this one out

Save me a seat, R586.

What does this say about Metcalf and Mantello that they'd go into partnership with Rudin not once, twice but often and ongoing?

Not surprised about Nathan at all.

Agree, R588. Also agree that Metcalf is a HAM.

I disagree, R589. She was totally robbed of a highly deserved Oscar for Ladybird. Allison Janney, who won for I, Tonya, could have played her role in her sleep.

Nathan Lane has 34 ways of saying lines and I’ve memorized all of them.

Perhaps he meant that Denzel is lazy, not in the number of roles he takes, but in careful preparation for them, making him not Othello, but Denzel playing Othello.

R590, nevertheless I have found her to be hammy on stage in at least 3 shows I saw her in.

That first play that Rudin is bringing to Broadway, I think it's called Little Bear Road by Samuel Hunter, got terribly dismissive reviews at Steppenwolf. Directed by Mantello and starring Metcalf, then and now.

R589 you’re wrong. She never played Scout Finch, did she?

Metcalf is very talented, but she has given some hammy performances. Both things can be true, and are, in my opinion.

It got raves at Steppenwolf. They tried to move it themselves but Mantello and Metcalf insisted on Rudin.

Re: Madeline Kahn in On The 20th Century: Wasn't there a (possibly apocryphal) story that on opening night director Hal Prince came backstage and praised her for finally getting her performance right, and she said, You expect me to do that EVERY night? (Again, a possibly apocryphal story.) It's a tough role and could have explained (but not excused) her absences.

and....

BAJOUR!!