Profile for philcrosby

We had a delightful time at the show ... more of a cabaret / concert with full orchestra than anything else. The arrangements are wonderful and yes, Matthew Scott and Heidi were the highlights. Patina was out, but her understudy is the amazing Eleasha Gamble (Laurie in Arena Stage's hit "Oklahoma"), so there was nothing lost there. Not a very full house, but the cast's energy was amazing. And after a break for dinner and cocktails, we went upstairs to the Terrace Theater to see Barbara Cook. ...

Burke Moses is doing a lovely job with the role in DC, though very much in the Preston mold.

I'm going with Mary Rodgers.

Lots of revivals sit sad upon the shelf ... the worst were the Broadway version of "Charlie Brown" with those hideous new songs and orchestrations, and "Once Upon a Mattress" with the underpowered SJP. Just awful.

Tom is magical onstage. I was lucky enough to be working at Great Lakes Theater Festival in Cleveland (where Tom got his Equity Card) when he came back to do two benefit performances. He co-wrote and starred in both, and held the audiences in the palm of his hand. A story: the second time, he had just finished filming "Philadelphia", so it was before he became a two-time Academy Award winner. Chester (now in his 20s) was an infant, and his star was definitely on the rise. We had just announce...

If I remember correctly. "A Musical Fable" was one of the authors' ploys to secure June Havoc's blessing on the project. "Fable" tells everyone it is a work of fiction, and liberties have been taken with real-life events and characters. Streisand is far from being a fool. She would not take on this project if she didn't feel she could do it, or be in "fighting shape" to play the role. She doesn't need the money, she doesn't need the further fame, she doesn't need the challenge. She is, at her...

I was lucky enough to meet her backstage after a performance of "Blithe Spirit" and fell thoroughly in love with her. Elegance, class, vivacity -- and she is so tiny!!

Has there been any information on casting for "First You Dream" at the Kennedy Center? Their site doesn't list anybody.

Interesting, since they were there at the tour stop at the Kennedy Center. As I said, the show always cut have used some tightening, and those were certainly good places to do it. Thanks! (This cast seemed largely to be from the Vegas production as well.)

We saw the current tour of "The Lion King" here in Richmond, VA last night. A question out of curiosity: when did "Morning Report" and the aerial ballet in "Can You Feel the Love" get cut? Is is just this tour, or has it happened on Bway as well? Not a complaint, actually, as the show always needed some trimming. Just curious. Thanks in advance!

Because no one could verify the stake was still in his heart.

Gaveston, I think that's why this last revival set the show clearly in the 1970s. Not because the world was more conservative (it was in many ways far more liberal), but because peoples' attitudes towards homosexuality weren't quite so evolved.

Sondheim wrote several new songs for "The Birdcage" but only snippets were used. There was some talk of a movie version of "La Cage" when the original production opened ... even Sinatra expressed interest. Then AIDS hit kids. And that doomed the project much more than the unpopularity of the film musical did.

DeCarlo probably lived the song the most. I saw Eartha Kitt play it in London, and she lived those lyrics too!

Kelli O'Hara would make a wonderful Sally, but is too young among the current cast. Goldie Hawn could do it for LA. And get Liza to sing I'm Still Here.

The perfect MAME right now is Streep. It just won't ever happen.

The fully staged version I saw at The Signature a couple of years ago was one of the most memorable theatrical experiences I have ever had. The brilliance of McNally's book and the Kander and Ebb score is that they have transformed a German Expressionist revenge comedy into a true love story. A bizarre one to be sure, but a complete one. Rivera and Hearn were masterful. The material is certainly too dark for a Broadway run, but it would thrive at a nonprofit for a carefully crafted limited run.

I think it's more like the end of "Murder on the Orient Express".

Tommy is a wonderful performer and his Judy is indeed magical. Jim Bailey was legendary and deservedly so, but I never thought his Garland was the best of his impressions. His Streisand and Lee were A-mazing.

As I was reading Laurents sections on "Gypsy" in "Mainly in Directing" and he kept repeating things like "we discovered that in the play we were now discovering [this song or another, he did this several times] no longer fit." Please, the songs were as integral to the show as his book. But Arthur clearly wanted to direct a different work, something other than the Laurents-Styne-Sondheim "Gypsy." And I agree, his "West Side Story" revival was equally misguided. "Let's get rid of that choreogra...