Profile for Director =)

No, at least not the American DVD.

By far the most touching moment was not Christopher Plummer blowing the classic whistle, nor the real Von Trapp descendants...it was the Vietnam vet who said he sat through the film 127 times during his time overseas. Those three hours were magical, he said, and I can well imagine they were.

True, Margaret Preece was great.

He's the only one who could sing in the Phantom film.

>>> Dear So-and-so, In the future, please reconsider before taking artistic license with the work of an author. If we had meant for the show to be done that way, it would have been written that way. Sincerely, Stephen Sondheim" Damn! I wish that could be sent to every "director" who does the same thing.

He may or may not have put his foot in his mouth. But for all his monetary success, I think Lloyd Webber is a deeply insecure man. He comes across as nervous every time I've seen him speak. He may be pimping Phantom out to schools and Love Never Dies as the next big thing because he's afraid he will go down in history as a one trick pony...even though he's done little to remedy that, with rehashing said Phantom and pimping it out. (I'm having nightmares already.) Don't know where I'm going wi...

>>>"I spent two years in community theater before moving on to study it at the college level"

I spent two years in community theater before moving on to study it at the college level. I am now a master's degree student in directing. I think what needs to be kept in mind is that very, very few in community theater have any theater training whatsoever. Some people give up their "dream" and find it in community theater, where they don't have to be in top physical shape or be the next Patrick Stewart or whoever you like in terms of acting. Directing is MUCH more of an art than saying "Yea...

I didn't even know Eleanor Parker was still alive. I'd like to see "the Baroness" reunite with them too, if she's well enough, but besides that the focus for these reunions seem always to be on Maria, the Captain, and the Von Trapp children, and I would expect that even if there were more notable cast members still alive (Richard Haydn), just because that's who producers believe everyone wants to see. Marni Nixon doesn't seem to be mentioned, either, and as far as I know she's still alive. It...

Oh, please. This description is a bit much. If my Baron was just like Christopher Plummer or Maria reminded me of Julie Andrews, I'd tell them to create their own interps. and I wonder if whomever wrote this means Mary Martin, et al when they said original cast.

Best Oprah celebrity show ever.

Geez, she sounds sick. I know she's very nasal (I've seen her show), but she sounded even worse here. I like watching The Nanny re-runs (as camp as they are sometimes) but I don't know about a musical...

Wasn't Julie Andrews singing opera at that age? Is that why she had vocal problems later? I'm not knocking her, because I think she had the most beautiful female voice I've ever heard...but she was either 10 or 12 years old and singing arias, I believe.

Re: Jekyll and Hyde. When was it moved to France? Totally can-can costumes there. And I HATE when I see the same moves repeated in staging/choreography within seconds of each other. Lack of imagination and training.

Kopit/Yeston's PHANTOM. I wore out two copies of the cassette version. Then I wore out two sets of the Lloyd Webber version, also on cassette.

Meh. They're hardly the first to do an all female staging of some show. Takarazuka Revue in Japan does it all the time.

Stratford is amazing. I can't wait to see what they'll do with this. I'm waiting for them to do "Tommy".

My beef is not so much with schools putting on crappy productions as it is doing illegal crap like putting the music back in the original key IF it is transposed. It's licensed one way, so deal with it. Just like when they add in the extra songs for "Cabaret" that were added to the '98 revival, which is NOT being licensed.

I imagine they're going to transpose the cadenzas down. Of course, high schools being high schools, especially when the "drama teacher" is just someone who wants the stipend, are going to go the illegal route and put it back up where it should be, and to hell if it ruins the girl's voice.

I think it's stupid to have Raoul be outright abusive when he clearly loves Christine enough to risk all for her. "I did it all for you and all for nothing".