Profile for ljay889

joevitus said: "Ludlow29 said: "I saw Merman. The most thrilling performance I've ever seen in a musical. The fact that she didn't win the Tony proves how inadequate the award can be.

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Did you see Martin in The Sound of Music, too? The Tony voters just seemed to have been enthralled with her. She won, what, three times throughout her career? Merman never won."

Merman won the Tony for Call Me Madam. 

Laurents offered the role to Chita in the early 60s for the London premiere, but she turned it down. Elaine Stritch famously was announced to star as Rose when it was finally ready to hit London, but the financing fell through, ultimately leading to Lansbury getting the role. It's such a shame Stritch never got her chance. 

From the Suskin review:  "For those curious about such things, let us point out that the unfamiliar introduction to the song “Small World” (“Here I been, looking for a suitcase…”) is authentic: it was cut during the 1959 Philadelphia tryout, in conjunction with a scenery mishap. Not an overwhelmingly dynamic discovery, perhaps, but illustrative of how Styne and Sondheim took Rose and Herbie from dialogue to song."

God, I hope this gets filmed! Id even take a new cast recording.

It's funny because Jane Krakowski was at one of the performances I had seen in New York, and I posted here that she'd be a great Marianne. She is really perfect for the role.

The fact that some of you are even entertaining this completely fake rumor is crazy. There is no universe where this would even come close to happening. 

Wow!! Thank you for that. That makes more sense. I assume some of the unfamiliar lines throughout are from Arthur’s drafts, etc. 

For anyone who has seen it lately. Does Rose still mention the “dramatic school for kids” in her final scene with Louise? It’s always mentioned in the dressing room scene, but adding that to the final scene is from the film script, and I’d imagine Arthur is rolling in his grave, given his disdain for the film. There was a sprinkling of new lines throughout the show during the first preview. 

Posting a review of an audio bootleg of a first preview is such a pathetic move. 

Voter said: "Haven't seen much but praise here, but I for one really couldn't stand this. Constantly busy, with hideously bright visuals, and a completebombardment to the senses. Doesn't justify its endless running length, which adds little to the plot except long dance breaks,overly pregnant "this moment is important" pauses,and boring shots likeone where we have to watch Glinda and Elphaba walk the ENTIRE hall to the Wizard. Ariana sounds genuinely awful trying to sing operatically in the higher notes. Breathy, and unflattering. Cynthia sounds great, but adds so many inappropriate riffs. Everyone acted well, sure, but I can't stand what Jon M Chu did to this (Jeff Goldblum as a sort of Mount Rushmore at Shiz is only one of the endless cringy choices) and I can't stand modern movie musicals mixing the songs so completely into pop music. The saving grace is that Schwartz is a phenomenal composer, so the songs still hit.Idina and Kristen's cameos were the highlight, but they also ruined the movie because with their incredible voices they reminded me just how much better they were."

Wicked has always been a pop score. The updates to the orchestrations were appropriate to me. In fact, Ariana rejected a plan to make "Popular" more contemporary.

"Greg Wells, our producer, wanted to refresh the rhythmic feel of "Popular" and make it a little more contemporary. Greg came up with something which was really fun, and we played for Ariana. And she said, "Absolutely not. I want to be Glinda. I don't want people to think that I'm Ariana Grande playing Glinda. If they hear this kind of different rhythm, they're going to think you changed it because of me, and I don't want to do that." So then we went back to the original."

https://www.grammy.com/news/wicked-composer-stephen-schwartz-interview-ariana-grande-cynthia-erivo

Last nights performance and the reaction reminds of the first preview of Sweeney. Another first preview that had several issues, and divided audiences, but they used the preview period to strengthen the production, which led to excellent review. I think the same could happen with Gypsy, but I don’t see how they can make the sets more attractive, at this point. 

RJ14 said: "The soundtrack is great but could have been better vocal quality wise, i feel like it's too compressed?"

I had the same feeling, but I find most musical soundtracks with live vocals tend to sound strange. Although, I know the film used a blend of live and studio vocals, which I assume is the case for the Soundtrack as well. 

Act 2 was better bur it really needs to find its  footing. I think it can get there.

 

Gimmick was electrifying. Lesli Margherita Could be nominated for this. Reminds me of Jen Simards hilarious  scene stealing performance in Company. 
 

Small World reprise back. Dressing room scene too rushed. Audra nailed Rose’s Turn!

Her overall characterization isn’t too polished, but the singing mostly is, and that’s the struggle so far. 

Saw it tonight as well, and I thought it was phenomenal. This is without a doubt the best stage to film adaption since Chicago. 

If we could finally get a good book to Sweet Charity, I think her infectious personality would be well suited to the role. 

This is such terrible news. RIP.