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The snow will not stop the Theater News Roundup! Emma Watson for a live-action Beauty and the Beast musical. There was word of her just doing Belle in a live-action adaptation (like the Cinderella coming out in March) but no, apparently we will get to hear her sing. Some other stories also at this link. Producers have acquired the rights to Water for Elephants for a musical but it's just in the early stages. No one is attached, The Roundabout revival of Into the Woods will extend through April 12 Nice little roundup of some things you could watch on Netflix or Hulu Stephen Flaherty is working on a dance piece with Christopher Gattelli called In Your Arms. A Broadway transfer of the animated Anastasia is also being worked on. Fish in the Dark is breaking box office records Made in Dagenham is closing April 11. No word of Broadway transfer or future plans.

Oh, Galavant. I didn't enjoy this show nearly as much as I thought I would, either straightforwardly or snarkily but it did have some nice moments. I don't know whether to hate or love them for that ending. I didn't know how they'd wrap everything up and it was a real cop out and yet I did kind of like the jokes about a possible season 2. I watched a lot of the pilots this season and a lot of the shows I did sign on for got cancelled so it resonated with me.

What? This is the first I've heard of this. Obviously we're not privy to all the panels they do for industry professionals but I also don't really pay any mind to the talk show circuit. What kind of desperate campaigning has he been up to that sets him apart from the rest?

I think there's some value to the argument. For me, I'm generally on the side of better singers. But I understand how it can be jarring if say someone is playing the part of a struggling artist and they just sound so amazing that it's shocking that everyone keeps turning them away (unless it's for a reason other than their voice). Two kinds of audition scenes that I can think of are the one in Victor/Victoria and the one at the end of Chicago. If those performers came in with either a more impressive song or a more impressive performance it could stretch believability a little. If someone's supposed to be a bad singer or competing against someone else who should be better, I think that should also be reflected in the way they sing the part. As for the onstage/offstage thing I think that's actually a valid way of portraying the character. For instance, let's take Chicago again. I don't mind a Roxie who is amazing at Funny Honey and her other "dream" songs and weak in her audition. I think that does communicate something to the audience. BUT and this is an important caveat, saying a character choice is being made is NOT an excuse for a singer who is just not up to par.

Oh, I forgot to add two things about the Cabaret experience. One, there was someone behind me who kept coughing. Loudly. I get that you can't control your health but surely there must be something you can do to deal with that if it's going to happen that often. Second thing, particularly after intermission people brought drinks back to their seats. They were selling water and snacks at the beginning but all the noises got worse after intermission. Not a fan. I do not want to smell or hear the coffee you are slurping next to me while I'm trying to lose myself in the world of the show.

I was about to skip Theater News today because there wasn't anything that great on Broadway.com or Playbill but I managed to scrounge up a few things by expanding to BroadwayWorld and TheatreMania. I'd check more sites if the layouts weren't such a mess. Lincoln Center Local Screening Schedule. Some highlights: Kristen Chenoweth Dames of Broadway March 7 2:30pm NYPL Bronx, Sweeney Todd (Emma Thompson), The Nance, Kander and Ebb celebration June 8 6:30 pm Queens Public Library Fun little article about possible Mrs. Doubtfire dream casting. Short article on some NY diners. My friend and I popped into the Cosmic Diner after Cabaret. Out of curiosity do you have any favorite spots in the theatre district or do you head elsewhere before/after a show? Looking for more info on the Smash concerts at 54 Below? Fair warning. It's the Hit List half of the show.

Oh, I meant my opinion of the Cliff/Sally relationship. With Emma having that affected mask up most of the time and the actor playing Cliff being so much of a nonentity there was nothing to really connect to there. There must surely be more pathos in the movie. Isn't there a love triangle subplot?

I am back from seeing Cabaret with Emma Stone. First, as for the experience, we were seated in the rear mezzanine but as the theatre is so open we didn't have any problems seeing anything. I do think that being seated so high up keeps you at a remove, both from the provocativeness of the performance and the darkness of the story line. You get it but it doesn't have quite the same impact. Nonetheless, I'm glad I've finally seen the show. I read the wikipedia summary before but I didn't listen to any of the music (though I knew most of the songs that weren't performed by Schneider or Schultz.) Alan Cumming was electric. He really feels perfectly at home in the part. He knows just how to command the stage and the audience and he's so connected to the character. Also, damn him for being 50 and looking that good. He manages to capture the sense of someone who has done the show so many times (like the Emcee) but without any weariness. It's like the 100th time and also the first (which is it for every new audience). I was just so impressed with him. Emma Stone was great. I feel like this was the perfect ingenue part for her to debut with but I'm not sure she's ready for other parts quite yet. Don't Tell Mama let her hide some technical flaws because she could make it more of a character song and throw her voice out in sharp burst. Not quite staccato but not holding the notes if you know what I mean. I noticed the lack of finesse more on Maybe This Time and Cabaret. She was able to cheat it a bit and excuse it as emotion but it just didn't sound trained. She's got a strong belt but she can't maintain it through a song and that natural rasp in her voice makes her sound strained at times. I thought she made for a good Sally. It wasn't the deepest performance. She played Sally as someone who often has that mask up so I didn't mind the exuberance that might have been overacting in another character. When she did tap into another emotion it was mainly anger. She had a real fire on stage. Her Mein Herr was fantastic. As a dancer she's fine. She stands out from the chorus who are looser and wider with their movements but I think she held her own pretty well and it helps that she has great legs. I get what those reviews meant when they said the older couple ran away with the show. I found Cliff so boring that I wondered if I was watching an abridged version of the story. I already knew Danny Burstein would be fabulous and even my friend noted how great he was. But Linda Emond also did a nice job. Their relationship came across as much more interesting than that of Sally and Cliff. I might try watching the movie to see if my opinion changes. If you've seen the show already, it's not a must see. But if you can get tickets or you just want to see it again, I think it's worth it for Emma Stone's performance. For an actress doing her first musical theatre part it's a respectable showing. Not perfect but nothing to be embarrassed about.

Gasp! A witch! A witch! I can't even look at you right now. ;)

Theatre News Roundup I don't know how many of you have taken my advice to watch the Broadway.com vlogs but here's some exciting news. Jennifer Nettles is going to be doing a vlog as she joins Chicago. I cannot bring myself to care about an Alan Menken/Glenn Slater project after Galavant. (I wrote a recap for weeks 2 and 3 but someone else is taking over on trashtalktv for week 4). Also, Happy Trails might not be the best genre of music for them to tackle after Home on the Range. A Mrs. Doubtfire musical is in the works also with Menken but with David Zippel as his collaborator. I feel more positive about Hercules than any of the Slater/Menken collaborations but they'd have to do something special to make this worthwhile. It just doesn't feel like something that really needs to be adapted to the stage. This is only tangentially theatre-y and usually I filter these stories out but this trailer is really cute. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt on Netflix with Tituss Burgess and Jane Krakowski in supporting roles. Tickets are on sale for Gigi. Strictly Ballroom has extended in Melbourne and is exploring global plans.

I wasn't sure if this should go in the Media thread or on here but Kyle Dean Massey (another Broadway vet) has been cast in Nashville as an openly gay singer/songwriter. How much do you want to bet that Will at least hits on him if they don't actually hook up because Will tries to hit on pretty much any guy at this point? They haven't done much with Laura Benanti but that's because she distracts. I hope they'll use Kyle's character in a way that props up Will's story since Layla/Will is just depressing and messy right now.

@ebk57 What did you end up thinking of Constellations?

I just wanted to highlight some parts of an article I read on Grantland today about the Oscars/awards season race for Best Actress.

So I have a day off on Friday. Should I listen to the OBC and NBC recordings of Cabaret or go into it fresh? I've seen bits and pieces of the movie but I only have the vaguest sense of the plot. Is it a story that I should experience for the first time in the theater or is it a richer experience if you have some idea of what to expect going in?

Crisis averted. We have tickets to the matinee. She's skipping the evening show. As long as her plans don't change, we should be all good.

Ugh. Our options are very limited for Cabaret and I don't know what to do at this point.

OK, I'm not going to cheat you out of the Theatre News Roundup just because I'm sulking. Laura Benanti is coming back to Broadway with a She Loves Me revival. Performances will begin Spring 2016. Confirmation of Anne Hathaway in Grounded Performances will begin on April 7 in the Anspacher Theater, where it is set to open officially on April 23 and run through May 17. Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 might be transferring to Broadway. This one's just a rumor at this point. Tickets now available for Josephine and I The self-penned solo show will be directed by Phyllida Lloyd and play a five-week limited engagement off-Broadway at the Public’s Joe’s Pub from February 27 through April 5. Opening night is set for March 10. Thank God. We finally have some Live from Lincoln Center dates ​The Heart of Robin Hood is extending in Toronto instead of coming to Broadway as scheduled. Andrew Lippa is doing some rewrites for the Encores version of The Wild Party Full cast for Somewhere in Time announced Speaking of PS Classics, they will be releasing an album for the new musical MISIA

Weirdly, I found this bit of news while scouring Broadway.com for the theatre board on Trashtalktv.

Ah! God damn it! Just checked Roundabout to verify the address and found out the Emma Stone is not going to be performing on the day I have tickets. And obviously all Hiptix tickets for her run are sold out now. What to do...

Impulse purchases! I got tickets for two Encores Off Center productions... The Wild Party with Sutton Foster and Little Shop of Horrors with Ellen Greene. I'm sure the nosebleed seats won't be that great but I'm still excited. :D

As someone who likes nails and beauty, I thought they were fabulous but rather distracting. Especially given that her character isn't really a glamour girl.

Well, I'm home from The Merry Widow. For $20 it was a nice night out but I think if I'd actually gone to the opera, I'd have been disappointed. The first thing I'll say is that I don't think this one was shot very well. I don't know if it was the Susan Stroman direction throwing them off but anytime they had to do wide shots because the performers were using the whole stage I thought it was mishandled. Either they'd only focus on one person. Or they'd pan back and forth making you dizzy. Or they'd try to do fancy shots from above or below. Or God knows what else. That was the time I missed being in the theater. As for everything else, if I'd been there in person I'd have probably missed a lot of the singing and the dialogue. Either the voices weren't strong enough or they weren't really enunciating. And it'd be a shame to go to an English opera in particular and be constantly looking down at the screen. Not that the lyrics or book were that great. Bear in mind I'm a ignorant newbie when it comes to opera but if I were judging this against any other new Broadway show or movie I would find it lacking. It's hard to separate the music from the performance and the lyrics but I do think I liked the music (I have a thing for waltzes and violins after all) and I'd consider seeing it again in the original language or if the reviews about the performers were amazing. I won't bother critiquing everyone but Kelli was generally radiant, I liked Renee more than I thought I would though I thought she was much stronger from the second act on, and Nathan Gunn was fine. The love interest for Kelli was handsome but I wasn't that thrilled with his singing until the big romantic ballad. Without stronger dialogue or stronger lyrics it just kind of lacked a reason for being. I was impressed with what they did with the set and the William Ivey Long costumes were gorgeous. It also lacked a real sense of fun. It had its moments of humor but it was like the performers were dragging along a resistant show. I don't know if anyone really tries to rework an opera but I wish they would with this one. Oh, and am even more excited to see Kelli in The King and I now. I haven't booked tickets yet but I will find a way to get one even if I have to pay full price. Yup, serious about this. ;)

I just listened to the Marvin Gaye album Hello Broadway for the first time. It was interesting. It reminded me a lot of Nat King Cole's style which I was not expecting at all. Anyway, I thought it might be a fun topic to talk about some of your favorite Broadway albums from Broadway and non-Broadway talent.

I got around to watching the Clive Davis Whitney Live thing. Seriously, why didn't they just let him have creative control? Sure, we'd have gotten a sanitized version of her life but it would have been more entertaining.

Eh. I'm willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. The movie was so disjointed and the script gave her so little to do that she didn't really have the opportunity to sell us a version of Whitney that wasn't just madly in love with Bobby. Imagine that this wasn't a biopic and that it was just a movie. We know so little about this character beyond things dropped haphazardly into the dialogue. There's so little "show" and only slightly more "tell."