Theatre Talk: In Our Own Little Corner

[DisneyBoy]

No memorable songs? Did they cut "OMG You Guys", " Whipped Into Shape" and "So Much Better"? Or did they just fail to make em shine?

[Rick Kitchen]

No, they sang them, I just don't think there's much there to them.  The DANCE in Whipped Into Shape is amazing.  And OMG You Guys was probably the best.

[SmithW6079]

I just read that "Bright Star" is closing. Too bad, but maybe that means it'll get to regional and local theater soon. I liked the clips I saw. 

[Rick Kitchen]

Leslie Odom, Jr. is leaving Hamilton.

[Snow Apple]

People are sleeping in line at the box office for Hamilton tickets in Chicago. The sight takes me back to the days before the internet and online tickets.

[aradia22]

Biggest news of the day. An American in Paris is closing in January 2017. The Humans is moving to the Schoenfeld (recently vacated by American Psycho).

[aradia22]

Scratch what I said about the biggest news of the day. Shuffle Along is closing July 24!?! What? I don't even know how to process this right now.

[bosawks]

Got my "Dear Evan Hansen" tickets!

[aradia22]

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"Michael Urie's hit Off-Broadway solo show Buyer and Cellar is being taped for broadcast on THIRTEEN (WNET), the local PBS station in New York.

Urie and Brackett will recreate the performance June 14-July 3 at Westport Country Playhouse in Westport, CT. THIRTEEN will record that performance on a date TBA. Time and date of the broadcast also have not been announced."

Can someone keep an eye on this for me since I don't check the theatre sites every day anymore? Thank you!

[aradia22]

A Very Random Theatre News Roundup: Post Tonys

Also, can we please talk about Shuffle Along? Is this smart producing to close this quickly or poor marketing and not giving the show a shot to prove it can find an audience?

Lastly, is anyone familiar with the Runaways? Should I try to see it at City Center?

[Rick Kitchen]

An a capella musical, TRANSIT, is coming to Broadway, produced by Janet B. Rosen,  book, music and lyrics by Academy Award winner Kristen Anderson-Lopez (Frozen), James-Allen Ford, Russ Kaplanand Sara Wordsworth, vocal arrangements byDeke Sharon (Pitch Perfect, "The Sing-Off") and musical supervision by Rick Hip-Flores (Rocky).

http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Breaking-News-A-Cappella-Musical-IN-TRANSIT-Will-Arrive-on-Broadway-This-Fall-Kathleen-Marshall-to-Helm-20160627

BTW, Broadway World is weird.  I have ad blocker turned on, and when I go to use their website, they tell me they won't let me in until I turn off my ad blocker.  I don't, I just click their button that I've turned it off, and they let me in.

[aradia22]

It's called "In Transit," Rick. I know someone who was involved so hopefully it moves forward and she goes with it. 

As for BWW, yeah, I think that's permanent. They need the ad revenue. 

[DisneyBoy]

I hope someone recorded the final King and I show with Marin Mazzie. I hear she was brilliant and sadly the production wasn't filmed for broadcast....

[ebk57]

5 hours ago, Rick Kitchen said:

BTW, Broadway World is weird.  I have ad blocker turned on, and when I go to use their website, they tell me they won't let me in until I turn off my ad blocker.  I don't, I just click their button that I've turned it off, and they let me in.

Rick, I think you could have stopped after "weird" 

[aradia22]

Anastasia update! Definitely moving forward. April 2017 opening + casting.

[Charlie Baker]

A lengthy piece on the origins of a very influential play:

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/cover_story/2016/06/oral_history_of_tony_kushner_s_play_angels_in_america.html

[Rinaldo]

I was just coming here to post that link if nobody else had. Angels in America is undoubtedly one (or two, if you prefer) of the great plays of our time, and it's good to have this kind of collection of remembered history for it. I was lucky to see it in its initial Broadway run, and then in several productions (sometimes together, sometimes individually) since. It stands up a quarter-century later, absolutely.

[aradia22]

Why? Why am I being tested like this?

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My Fair Lady
August 2 through 28
Bay Street Theater (Sag Harbor, NY: 2 1/2 hours from NYC)
Here's a reason to leave the street where you live. This August, Michael Arden will follow up his Tony-nominated turn directing Spring Awakening by helming My Fair Lady. The cast is led by two Broadway favorites: Paul Alexander Nolan (Bright Star) as Henry Higgins and Kelli Barrett (Doctor Zhivago) as Eliza Doolittle, and the intimate staging will feature a two-piano arrangement of the score. Wouldn't a day trip to Sag Harbor be loverly?

Does anyone want to drive me to Sag Harbor?

[Rinaldo]

Reminder: Tomorrow night is the live stream of She Loves Me.

[Bastet]

That oral history of Angels in America was sublime.  A friend in San Francisco had seen the first part, and then came down to visit me in L.A. when the full production opened at the Taper.  There were some glitches, and I've heard the Broadway production was better with a new director and kinks worked out, but it was a riveting experience.  (And a prime example of the importance of a properly-funded NEA.)

There will be a revival at the National Theatre (in London) next year, and I wonder if that production will be shown in cinemas via NTLive.  If not for the running time, I'd take it as a given.

[Charlie Baker]

At 4:45 am my schedule shows TCM presenting the TV taping of Sweeney Todd.  It's not perfect, but just for the performances of Angela Lansbury and George Hearn worth a look if you haven't seen it. 

[Rinaldo]

They've shown it before, when they honored Angela Lansbury (if I remember right, she was present for some of the intros).

[aradia22]

REMINDER: She Loves Me livestream tonight on BroadwayHD. If you spend $10, it should be available to view for a week. If you get the yearly subscription, it will be available to you now and when the cleaned up version is posted. If you get the monthly membership, you will still have to pay separately to view She Loves Me. Apparently you also wait and then pay a fee to view the cleaned up version later but that has not been confirmed. 

[Rinaldo]

I think the problem with the monthly subscription is that the final edit will be added to their permanent content in several months, so a monthly subscription now won't be any help. Otherwise, yes, $10 gets you the live show tonight and the replay for a week. I'm glad the site exists, but they could make navigation and options clearer.

[ebk57]

Had some heart-stopping moments before the show started due to buffering and content error messages, but as soon as the show began, the stream was perfect.  As was the show.  I'm so happy I could see it!

[DisneyBoy]

Missed it, but glad it'll be out there for later!

[Rinaldo]

You may well do better to see the replay in any case. There were some transmission glitches (buffering, "invalid segment" displays) -- which fortunately seemed (for my circle of friends) to clear up just as the show proper was beginning. Whatever my quibbles with the production, I'm so glad that this particular top-echelon musical is now visually preserved in complete form. (Follies now remains the other conspicuous lack in that department.)

[aradia22]

Thinking about the 2016-2017 season and wondering if I should spend $135 on a New Group subscription so I can see Sutton Foster in Sweet Charity.

The other big contenders for my attention are War Paint (God, I hope it transfers), Anastasia, and. Amelie. And then there are the shows I'm told I should care about like Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812, Dear Evan Hansen, Falsettos, Hello, Dolly, and The Front Page. Off-Broadway I've got my eye on Marie and Rosetta and Saint Joan.

[Rick Kitchen]

Today's Music Circus entry was that old war horse, Hello, Dolly.  Very entertaining, and everybody involved looked like they were having a great time.  The dance was incredible, especially the Waiters' Gavotte.

Dolly Levi - Lynne Wintersteller - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynne_Wintersteller .  This production was hers.  She dominated and ran with every scene she was in.

Horace Vandergelder - Stuart Marland - http://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Stuart-Marland/ .  He did a great job.  It looks like he is going to  be in the next production, Seussical, as well.

Cornelius Hackl - John Scherer - http://www.broadwayworld.com/people/John-Scherer/ - He had a great voice, and did a fantastic job.

Barnaby Tucker - Jordan Grubb - http://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Jordan-Grubb/

Irene Molloy - Jacquelyn Piro Donovan - http://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Jacquelyn-Piro-Donovan/ - She really had a beautiful singing voice.

[Rinaldo]

Wow, Rick Kitchen! Thanks so much for the report! I'm glad it was so enjoyable (I retain a real soft spot for the show), and there are some treasured names there.

Jacquelyn Piro Donovan is, I believe, based in Washington DC, but performs all over. I first saw her in the fourth season of Encores! (20 years ago!), as the soubrette in Jerome Kern's Sweet Adeline and not long thereafter in the main female role in the national tour of Big.

Lynne Wintersteller is a national treasure: a beautiful soprano voice, lovely to look at, and a fine actress. She too has performed all over the country. I first knew of her from the original cast recording of the Malty-Shire revue Closer Than Ever. A few years after that, I saw her off-Broadway in Kern's Music in the Air. Then as one of the five original cast members of the Rodgers-Hammerstein revue A Grand Night for Singing (the recording is very much worth hearing, and it remains, ridiculously, her only Broadway credit). And I also caught her in my neck of the woods in a tour of Sondheim's Company. She's always great.

[aradia22]

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She's always great.

I recently saw Lynne in Shear Madness. I think it was beneath her talents but she was totally game for it.

[aradia22]

There are some really good discount offers floating around for Runaways. And I'm sure people in the cast will go on to great things. But I'm not really a big fan of young singers. And this music and staging is not inspiring me to buy a ticket. Thoughts?

[bosawks]

RIP John McMartin and in homage to his Norman Vincent Peale, "Know that you yourself are a miracle."

Safe journey Benjamin Stone.

[Rinaldo]

The last of the five Follies principals to leave us, and a gentleman who, despite a fairly active TV career, never stopped working onstage.

[DisneyBoy]

I wish his family well. Interesting though that after having seen Ron Raines in the role, I have a hard time picturing anyone else...

 

I heard about those broadcast glitches, Rinaldo, and agree - the final edit may be best.

 

I just started watching the King and I bootleg and I cannot understand a thing Ken Wannabuyavowel is saying. Holy moly. I had read his diction was weak at the start of the run, but wow. Again, if anyone knows of a Marin Mazzie video, please point me to it. I doubt I'll be able to get through the show with Ken.

 

I am super excited for War Paint and Anastasia, though it sucks that Mary Beth Peil isn't continuing on as the Empress.

 

How long is Jane K in She Loves Me?

[Quof]

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How long is Jane K in She Loves Me?

Not long, since it closes this week!

[Rinaldo]

The replay has been extended through July 10. After that it goes away for a while, to return later in the year as part of their back catalog.

[aradia22]

I know almost nothing about Damn Yankees but I have reason to believe someone could be thinking of mounting a revival. Any opinions on the casting of this production?

[Rick Kitchen]

Josh Groban will be going to Broadway in the fall in The Great Comet of 1812, based on a small part of War and Peace.  He plays Pierre, and African-American actress Denee Benton is Natalia.

[aradia22]

I don't know if there's any crossover with the UnReal thread but Denee Benton is playing Ruby in season 2. Having watched that show, I'm now more excited for Natasha, Pierre as previously the mess of an album (less so with the women's songs) and the announcement of Josh Groban wasn't doing much to spark my interest. I was only planning to see it because of all the good word of mouth from the Ars Nova run.

[aradia22]

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Heidi Blickenstaff (Broadway's Something Rotten!) and Emma Hunton (Broadway's Spring Awakening) are set to star as mother and daughter in the world premiere production of the new musical Freaky Friday at Signature Theatre.

Tom Kitt/Brian Yorkey musical + Heidi Blickenstaff = Fierce Belting

I still don't care about a Freaky Friday musical but they've got my attention.

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George Takei, who recently starred in the Broadway musical Allegiance, has been cast as "Reciter" in Classic Stage Company's upcoming production of Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman's PACIFIC OVERTURES, to be directed by Tony Award winner (and 2016 Tony Award nominee) John Doyle, who this season takes the reins as Artistic Director of the vital East Village theater company.

Yes to more George Takei on stage. He was adorable in Allegiance. I really want to get a ticket but on sale dates are TBD. I'm not sure how a musical will sell at CSC since there plays (Mother Courage, Peer Gynt) weren't in danger of selling out. I hate booking way in advance. You never know what could be happen. You catch a cold, it rains... I usually only do it for a really great deal. Speaking of which... I will probably see Holiday Inn and The Cherry Orchard at Roundabout but I've yet to book a ticket.

[Rick Kitchen]

Holiday Inn is one of the choices for the Sacramento fall/winter season, but I haven't decided if I'll go see it.

[Rinaldo]

As a writer about musical theater (his "Aisle Say" blog primarily, for many years now), David Spencer has generally mixed feelings in me: a practitioner himself, he brings valuable and interesting inside knowledge to the subject, but he can be overly prescriptive and schoolmarmish at times ("you must do this if you want your show to work"). Still, at a time when a lot of writers who really don't know the medium they're working in are giving it a try, he has important insights to offer. Recently he's been contributing columns to Times Square Chronicle, two of the best of which are roundups of what didn't work and why in recent efforts on Broadway and off. 

[Charlie Baker]

I highly recommend Barbara Cook's memoir Then & Now. It's got shop talk about singing in general, and about the specific shows in which she was involved. It's got anecdotes about those with whom she worked, most of them pretty juicy and unheard by me before.  It's got her pretty remarkable journey from poverty, and a tumultuous life with her mother, to the success she achieved, built on talent.  It doesn't neglect the toll her alcoholism took on her personally and professionally.  And while it's a relatively short book, it doesn't feel rushed. And there is a lot of her warmth and humor in it as well. 

[aradia22]

I saw Hadestown tonight. GO SEE HADESTOWN. It's not perfect. It needs some work. Like Futurity which was also amazingly creative but had some book issues, this one stumbles a bit, especially with its social message and allegory (and the character of Orpheus... though a lot of that might be my personal bias) but it is 100% worth seeing. I don't want to hear about bootlegs (not that you could find any). This needs to be seen live. I'm seeing if I can fit in a return visit.

[Rick Kitchen]

Today's Sacramento Music Circus offering was Seussical.  I knew very little about it, but I was thoroughly entertained.  There were some good songs, and some very good performances.

The Cat in the Hat - Jason Graae - http://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Jason-Graae/

Sour Kangaroo - Sharon Wilkins (who originated the role on Broadway) - http://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Sharon-Wilkins/

Horton the Elephant - John Treacy Egan - http://www.broadwayworld.com/people/John-Treacy-Egan/ (He had a great voice, and with Graae, starred).

Gertrude McFuzz - Bets Malone - http://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Bets-Malone/

Mayzie LaBird - Ginifer King - http://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Ginifer-King/

Jojo was played by a local 11-year-old, Josh Davis, who played Michael Darling in last year's Peter Pan, and has done the national tour of A Christmas Story. He was very good.

[Rinaldo]

Jason Graae is terrific; I've seen him in tons of things, and he's always good. He has made tons of recordings too, including some solo CDs (like songs by Charles Strouse).

Seussical: The Musical is a fascinating case. It really didn't catch on on Broadway, despite stunt casting of the Cat in the Hat, and got very mixed reviews. It probably didn't really belong there. But for community and regional productions, it works out great, with a bunch of good roles, none of them intimidatingly hard, and it adds up to a good time for audiences.

[Rick Kitchen]

Music Circus always does a kid-friendly show every summer, and this was this year's.

I forgot to mention that there were 9 local kids in the ensemble.

[Charlie Baker]

Got to hand it to Jake Gyllenhaal--taking on the concert presentation of Sunday in the Park with George at City Center and then Burn This next year.  His theater chops will be tested in these roles. 

And I probably don't have enough interest in Privacy to try to get in, but Daniel Radcliffe deserves credit for continuing to do theater, and this time,  in quite an  unconventional vehicle.

[Rinaldo]

Daniel Radcliffe has been very smart about fighting the "he'll always be Harry Potter to me" nonsense that always happens, by starting to do live theater even before that series finished, and beginning with a challenging vehicle like Equus, which required insanity and nudity of him. (And he must have been thoroughly aware that in this era, illicit photos would immediately circulate.) Even doing a musical next, though How To Succeed is popular enough, took him out of his comfort zone in a role whose classic originator survives on film -- he always wants to challenge himself and is serious about his work, and more power to him.