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

The previous thread.

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

OP, this is one of your most painful titles yet. Really, you should hurt yourself for this.

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

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

Boop hasn't thrown in the towel, either.

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

Cabaret is not long for this world.

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

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

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

Is it touring?

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

Culkin was out of GGR last night.

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

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

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

Does Dane Elaine stay mainly on the plain?

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

Get 'em while you can, kids!

Rama Lama Dane Elaine

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

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

It was the first thing that came to mind!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What do you have against BLUEFISH COOZE?

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

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

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

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

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

Is Beanie hip?

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

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

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

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

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

I think Lauren Ambrose did it for about three months.

And thar ya go, r33.

I'm calling it now:

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

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

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

R33 - Diana Rigg

[quote] Elaine Paige is now Dane Elaine to you

Something's rotten in the state of Denmark.

And thar ya go, r36.

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

And thar ya go.

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

Yes, R41. Margot Moser.

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

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

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

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

And thar ya go, r44.

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

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

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

From the Tonys thread -

Cygnet FOLLIES

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

OP, those nipple clamps should still be in place.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Harvey Fierstein sings Rose’s Turn!

For R48

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

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

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

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

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

Yes but victor Victoria WAS Julie Andrews.

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

Would you pay to see Julie or Miss Susan Anton?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Maureen McCormick for the next GYPSY revival!*

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What do you think his motivation was?

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

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

Was he shopping for peaches or eggplant?

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

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

And no shows a week

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

R93 Thanks for the link !

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

R50 Not all old shows grow to feel dated.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SHIT!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Roundabout - get it together!!