Sheryl Lee Ralph is MARGO in APPLAUSE at REPRISE

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 4/7/05 at 1:00pm

Jean Louisa Kelly is Eve Harrington. Interesting cast, though I was hoping they were really going to get a big name this time out...

Posted: 4/7/05 at 1:02pm

WHAAAT? No, she's so wrong for the role.

[Mother's Younger Brother]

Posted: 4/7/05 at 1:06pm

Hmmm...from Lauren Bacall to Cheryl Lee Ralph, huh?

Boring.

[WISHIHADATONY]

Posted: 4/7/05 at 1:10pm

APPLAUSE has one of the most dreadful scores of a Tony winning best musical in history. Perhaps the singularly most dreadful. However, I loooooooooooooved seeing the original Broadway production.
Lauren Bacall was electrifying and there were indeed some exciting moments.(At the time, the part of Margo set a record of having almost 70 costumes changes in the production.) Ironically, the best part of the show, for many folks, was Lauren Bacall's "bow" at the end of the show which was brilliantly staged by Ron Field.
Why on earth would REPRISE do a show with such a clunky score? Much better musicals for REPRISE to be doing. APPLAUSE's overture is deceptively exciting and is quite good.
It is rather astonishing that the same folks who wrote BYE BYE BIRDIE, ANNIE, etc. wrote this turkey of a score.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 4/7/05 at 1:16pm

I actually think APPLAUSE is a PERFECT show for something like ENCORES and REPRISE, because score or not MARGO CHANNING is one of the greatest roles ever written for an actress.

I was hoping that because of the limited amount of commitment required for a concert presentation, they would have been able to get a real movie star to do it.

APPLAUSE is definitely not a show worthy of a full Broadway revival, but this is the perfect venue for it.

[morosco]

Posted: 4/7/05 at 1:19pm

"...the part of Margo set a record of having almost 70 costumes changes in the production..."

Wow! If the show was 2 hours and 45 minutes 70 costumes roughly averages to a new costume every 2 and a half minutes! (?)

[KindnessofStrangers]

Posted: 4/7/05 at 1:37pm

"I was hoping that because of the limited amount of commitment required for a concert presentation, they would have been able to get a real movie star to do it. "

Same here. SLR is a gorgeous, talented woman, but I was also hoping for a STAR.

[magruder]

Posted: 4/7/05 at 1:37pm

You know, if there was a role in a musical that Faye Dunaway could have done...

And why didn't they think of asking BWW's very own Margo?

[WISHIHADATONY]

Posted: 4/7/05 at 1:47pm

Morosco, you are right on the money. Her costumes changed almost constantly and most were indeed quite dazzling.
I vividly remember that this fact was used on JEOPARDY a few months after APPLAUSE opened. The category was BROADWAY MUSICALS and the "response" was -- LAUREN BACALL as Margo Channing MAKES A RECORD 67 OF "THESE" in APPLAUSE.-- Of course, the correct question was: What are costume changes?

[magruder]

Posted: 4/7/05 at 1:55pm

Are you sure the correct question wasn't "What are flat notes"?

[BroadwayBaby6]

Posted: 4/7/05 at 2:04pm

The cast includes:

Sheryl Lee Ralph- Margo
Eve- Jean Louisa Kelly
Kevin Earley- Bill
Veanne Cox- Karen

(Per Playbill.Com)

These are all very talented performers who can sing, dance, act, and be funny.

They all are TERRIBLY mis-cast, however!

I hope I'm wrong but I can't see any of them doing a credible job in these roles.

Margo should be someone more recognizable such as Diahann Caroll or Stockard Channing (to name just two). Faye Dunaway would have been perfect too.

Eve should be cast with a 20 something actress.

Bill should not be 20 years younger than the actress playing Margo and Karen should be a Blythe Danner type.

Also, it sounds like they're going to use the absolutely awful revised Paper Mill version (which has Margo singing Applause instead of the "Bonnie" Character among many other changes).

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 4/7/05 at 2:08pm

Stockard Channing did a Actors Benefit Reading of the original screenplay ALL ABOUT EVE a couple of years ago in Los Angeles and was superb. Calista Flockhart was Eve and Blythe Danner was Karen. They were perfect.

I'll third the nom for Faye Dunaway in the part. She would have brought the proper bitch/glamour attitude necessary for the role.

Plus she could have beaten Jean Louisa Kelly with a coathanger during the curtain call. What could be better then that?
Updated On: 4/7/05 at 02:08 PM

[OtherDaryl]

Posted: 4/7/05 at 2:16pm

This sounds fun!

Applause! was among the very first Original Cast Albums I owned and I wore it out. I even sewed my older sister a caftan for Christmas based on one Margo is wearing in a photo! Of course, I was at an age where I just wanted to be Bonnie Franklin ("she did the understudy to the rescue bit") and didn't realize there were serious problems with the property - and because of my fondness for it, I'm not entirely convinced there are major problems. I remember seeing a news segment on something like First Tuesday or 60 Minutes about the London opening that was so gosh darn glamourous, and then the TV version with all that dancing. I still throw the cassette in the car stereo once a year and lament that the entire dance break from the Applause number wasn't recorded.

Plus, I've always been of the idea that more Sheryl Lee Ralph is a good thing.

[Jon]

Posted: 4/7/05 at 2:17pm

I must agree that APPLAUSE has a horribly annoying, unmelodic score.

I think Jean Louisa Kelly is gorgeous and still reads young enough for Eve. it would be nice, however, if the actress playing Margo were more famous than the one pklaying Eve.

[BroadwayBaby6]

Posted: 4/7/05 at 2:19pm

I don't think ANYBODY wants to work with Faye Dunaway...She's an absolute terror. She used to come into the Koo Koo Roo Chicken ( healthy fast food place!) in West Hollywood and terrorize the staff because she expected them to serve her first even though there were people who placed orders before her.

She was always such a bitch-on-wheels that none of the clientele ever came up to her (even though most WeHo queens probably know every line to "Mommy Dearest" by heart).

[popcultureboy]

Posted: 4/7/05 at 2:21pm

Are you sure the correct question wasn't "What are flat notes"?

I don't do these very often, but that truly deserves an LOL.

[Demitri2]

Posted: 4/7/05 at 2:38pm

GEEZ! Makes you wonder who turned the part down before Ralph got it.

[diana rigg]

Posted: 4/7/05 at 2:39pm

I heard that they approached a lot of Margos (Lupone, Baranski et al) none of whom were available. Should be interesting to see the former Dreamgirl (Miss Ross) though.

[TonyaFanatic]

Posted: 4/7/05 at 3:08pm

everybody should shut the hell up and wait and see how she does. "everyone's terribly miscast" shut up! you havent even seen the show and most of you most likely wont see it, so stop hating and wait and see how the cast does. THEY'RE ACTORS. GIVE THEM THE CHANCE TO ACT. And by the way, Ms. Ralph is a star.She's had a formidable career in entertainment. u all know who she is right? ok then.

[Demitri2]

Posted: 4/7/05 at 3:36pm

Oh my! I just had a phone conversation with a friend this morning and we spoke of the casting. He said, "Couldn't they get Patti Lupone?" to which I replied, "Even Christine Baranski would've been more likely" (Although both are doing a sitcom, I'd even like to see Bernadette play an out and out bitch someday....though I loved her in "Gypsy" to me she came off more lovable than monstrous). I always regretted not seeing Lauren Bacall in "Applause". She seemed so perfect for the role. Unfortunately I did get to see the disasterous television version which was just horrible. I never truly appreciated Bacall until I saw Raquel Welch in NY do "Woman of the Year". I felt it was a mediocre show at best but then I got to see Bacall do it on tour in L.A. and WOW!...she was f**kin' incredible. For the first time I believed in the Tess character and cared about her and the show took on a whole different light thanks to Bacall's artistry. I wonder how "Applause" would have succeeded without her? I remember reading that the original film Eve Harrington, Ann Baxter, replaced Bacall on broadway but I think it closed after several weeks. In fact a buddy of mine just interviewed Stephanie Powers who's doing "The King and I" in L.A. and asked her about the unsuccessful "Applause" revival production to which she replied, "The show is terribly dated. There was no reason to do it".

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 4/7/05 at 4:45pm

What an AWFUL show -- and I, of all people, should know.

And no, I wasn't asked ....... bitches!

[robbiej]

Posted: 4/7/05 at 4:46pm

And she returns with a bang!

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 4/7/05 at 4:48pm

Margo, I can't believe you would allow them to ever do this show again. I know that-when you're not at the theatre, of course-you spend all of your free time burning copies of the cast album.

[Rodgers]

Posted: 4/7/05 at 6:47pm

You all are funny why is she not right Because she's African American - She actually has a great quality for that show and I hate I like the score is actually pretty good. And who is Jean Louisa Kelly No way bigger than Sheryl Lee Ralph, I know who that is.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 4/7/05 at 6:49pm

I think the point is, the show shouldn't be done ever again-period! Dull-Dull-Dull. Why try to make a musical of one of the greatest movies of all time, with such a boring score? Updated On: 4/8/05 at 06:49 PM