Profile for MidWestTheater

I feel bad for Ayanna Bria Bakari. I get the logic of replacing her with a Tony Award winner, but why not spread the wealth a little and give a Chicago actress her Broadway debut?

Yes, she was incredible. It's the performance that is on-stage the least, but is a barn burner.

Kinda bummed they are not bringing over the entire Steppenwolf cast...but what a cast for a broadway. I love this show so much, I saw it twice. It's a big fat, funny, gut-wrenching family drama. I've said before when you walk into Steppenwolf and see a dining room set up, you know ****'s gonna go down. And **** goes down. Jon Michael Hill will be talked about come Tony time, his final monolouge broke my heart.

Actually, the whole interview with her is really good. She talks alot about the Wedding Singer and her time in it, which was really interesting. And please let this woman host the Tony Awards.

Mickey Jo is such a positive critic and he found a lot of good in the show, particularly Vanessa, but him saying it's better than Pretty Woman doesn't inspire confidence.

Well I agree with him on that one. Having seen both shows in Chicago, Pretty Woman was one of the worst shows I've ever seen. Give me The Devil Wears Prada any day over that (despite not being a very good show either) although at least it had two solid songs, both sung by Javier Munoz. 

Patti will be there next Wednesday according to "The View" today...I want reports.

This one's tough. I just saw Gavin do a pre-tryout of Walk on Through in Chicago when he was touring with Into the Woods, and the man was insanely talented, I hope there will be more life for that piece. Also super sweet guy, I remember meeting him after Hair and he wanted to see the photos of us being taken and wanted to keep taking them till he was satifsfied. Such an insane talent that we only really saw part of what he could do, taken way to soon.

I"m shocked as well this is transferring. That book needed a complete overhaul. However, I am looking forward to hearing the score again, so hopefully it runs long enough to merit a recording. ( Clap on 3 and 5 is a great number) I agree that J.Harrison Ghee could win their second tony award for this. 

Jason3 said: "BCfitasafiddle said: "Rumor, as of now, is Norbert Leo Butz is Herbie."

He does qualify as a Tony winner (for Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and Catch Me If You Can) who has done drag (in Is He Dead?). I think he's a great choice for Herbie.

Looking forward to this production."

I would be surprised if he was in this, considering he's starring in Vladmir at MTC in a few weeks. 

 

Blue_Lotus said: "Mia Farrow deserved an Oscar nomination?!?! For what?"

Radio Days

 

I am so excited this is transferring. This has been my favorite play I've seen all season (ended up seeing it twice at Steppenwolf, loved it even more the second time). I'm really hoping a majority of the cast transfers especially Jon Arthur Hill, who brought me to tears at the end, and Alana Arenas who is a force of nature.  New York is not ready for one of the most thrilling, tense, dinner scenes this side of August: Osage County.

Yeah.. the film is not great. They cut quite a bit of the score.  I was lucky enough to see the Jerry Zaks production from the 90's with Nathan Lane, which was pure comedy heaven..however, the show is of it's time. There is a production being done at Signature Theater in DC, in the fall. 

I would love to see this again. I'm curious how much work has been done on it, especially with the book and whole Pappy/Valentina storyline. I think people are going to be really surprised by how strong and earwormy the score is, and of course Jasmine Amy Rogers is gonna blow people's minds. 

Stereophonic winning Best Score

Jaja's African Hair Braiding winning Best Set Direction for a Play ( The set reveal got it's own applause)