Profile for binau

I’ve heard behind the scenes from a credible source that the running costs for Ragtime are so high they are losing money every week even with these grosses so ‘hit’ may not be the right word. Broadway is dead.

So let me get this straight.The OP through their own intelligence makes an astute prediction that the show might close in August, and was clear about their reasoning the whole time. BWW banshees (can I coin a new term) jump on the OP complaining. And now it's looking like the OP's predictions were actually correct? (TBC)What is wrong with this place?

ACL2006 said: "that sucks. it should have won Best Revival."It really should have. This is one of the most groundbreaking revivals of all time. People like Jamie Lloyd have tinkered around with re-inventions of shows but this show was a true re-invention. People kept saying “it’s still cats” but it really wasn’t. They barely changed a word or note but it was basically a completely new book in terms of interpretation. Every character, every song, every moment was different. And I think it’s th...

Your love for this production is so joyful and pure on a board with so much negativity and malice.

I know it’s easy for me to say because I saw the show at the donmar and west end live 10 times lol, including opening night. But Pink was fabulous on the Tony Awards and needs a vehicle. The London production was filmed. Out with the old and in with the new I say.

I have a feeling that Jamie Lloyd is onto something. Cynthia Erivo and Jonathan Groff with some clever direction might be exactly what the show needs.

I think there is a bit of revisionist history surrounding Bernadette in Annie Get Your Gun, especially after her replacement seemed like a much greater fit. If you find a way to watch the show (eg lincoln archive or bootlegs), you can see that she was at the peak of her physical and musical performance, with incredible stage presence. Audiences fell in love with her in the role (I mean that almost literally and this is not something that people like Reba or Patti did). It was very much a star...

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Even if Metcalf has a certain style she is going for a supporting actress Tony in a performance that feels like she is leading the show. I can’t see how it will be possible for others to compete with this. If she was leading actress Tony it might be more difficult. She is an Olympian in little league right now. How can anyone compete with that?

I had no issues with the singing voice of any Dan except Jamie Parker, whose acting more than made up for it and as a consequence he is my favourite Dan though. But he did the west end run, we have a pro shot. I’d like someone else to have a go, personally. His voice far weaker than all his co-stars it sticks out like a sore thumb to me. I don’t need to see it again and want to hear someone else in the role. Jason D’s voice is still stronger than Jamie and seeing him against real wife Marin w...

Can we please get Tveit or a Dan who can sing? I know Jamie Parker has his fans, and he is probably my favourite Dan so this probably sounds contradictory (though I never saw Brian D’arcy James but I saw the others live so Spencer, Jason D, the US tour Dan etc). But I’m just sick of Jamie's horse voice now after Into the Woods. I’m just over exposed. I want a singer who can act not an actor who can ‘sing’.

I know why some people might be tired of RENT, it was on Broadway for so long. We had a dreadful movie with much of the original cast who were too old. We had the final performance filmed. We then had an off broadway revival that felt surprisingly stale. However, if you try and forget the legacy and the overexposure and just listen to the OBC recording again carefully I do think it’s hard not to recognise the show was groundbreaking, has some amazing performances and iconic songs. It also has...

When people compare Jamie Lloyd Sunset and Evita they tend to do it on superficial ways. Eg yes Rachel holds a note in Rainbow High a little longer and there are attractive men in underwear. However, the productions couldn’t be more different in terms of tone. Evita felt like a high energy stadium pop concert in tone. Sunset was more like a a strange abstract emotional dream world. I would be truly surprised if people walked out of both productions feeling the same kind of emotions even if th...

Kad said: "“Competitive” doesn’t really describe the category this season- it’s more like a number of performances are all at about the same level and nobody really has yet broken through. In this and a number of major categories, it’s a “well, somebody has to win” year."Exactly, I would suggest it is actually the opposite of competitive. I don't believe C Levy would win for Ragtime in many other seasons. I believe almost all nominees last season for Best Actress in a Musical would be a front...

"Then again, she was having trouble following the lyrics. "This is why I always found it so fascinating how successful Hamilton became. In my opinion it's an extremely dense, complicated piece of art not a kind of mass-audience common dominator type event. Drafts of the show were reviewed and feedback provided by Sondheim. I was completely shocked that it made it so big and I remember even writing on this very board that while it's all very well they can sell out the small Public, good luck t...

Tell me if I'm wrong but I get a sense that Chess is a convoluted mess of music, lyrics and book that it doesn't matter what re-incarnation if you examine closely enough you will find contradictions, challenges and inconsistencies but if you zoom out and consider 'the vibes' as a whole, the emotion associated with the music, some of the lyrics and the broad story telling etc.. it kind of works. Maybe I'm stupid, but I've seen the show multiple times (not the current production) and I still fe...

I never saw it in small theatres but Six did originally plat a 350 seat theatre in London and even smaller venues before its transfer. I'm guessing it can still work at a revenue the size of New World Stages.

If it doesn’t I think we can well and truly point to this example to show how Broadway is suffering from the economics. However, I still pray and hope that this is an example of a show that people would pour money into just because, for the art etc. It is a bit devastating that they couldn’t make the street Argentina work but I hope Jamie Lloyd has another trick or two up his sleeve to mitigate this. I still get chills thinking how the camera would show Rachel performing to a truly massive cr...

Eg the Rent revival (2011), Avenue Q, Kinky Boots etc. where the idea appears to be that it will have success in a slightly smaller scale but run for a while. A related question, if the economics of Broadway is tough right now what it is it like for Off-Broadway?

In London they were able to make a profit in 12 weeks and on Broadway it would take over 52. Mmmmm. Are we sure it’s transferring? Being realistic about the financial prospects might mean it doesn’t come over unless they have a succession plan to Rachel. The ALW quotes seemed to be talking about hypothetical scenarios with the tentative language ‘would have’ not ‘is’.