I'm going to Titanic, too. I have some friends involved. Sad to be missing that, though, especially with the Doyle factor. And Guettel is one of my favorites, who has written some songs that would be glorious on Raul. The pricetag would have been a hindrance anyway though, even without the conflict.
Yup! It'll be a good time, and their concert hall is gorgeous. This is the second benefit of that kind at NYSEC and they've been great about making it affordable.
Ok, I could be eating my hat on this soon because I know nothing from the inside. BUT. Having seen the show, this is my thought. I am having a hard time believing it, not because I don't like her (I do, I saw her in Wonderful Town and thought she was quite good), but because she goes against everything they have spent more than five years creating this character to be. Sutton is not not doing it because they've decided to take the character in another direction, she's not doing it because she's not available. And I just can't understand why, after all this time of one idea for the character, and having it work almost perfectly, they would suddenly switch to something completely different.
The differences between the movie and the musical are subtle, but their ramifications are huge, and the relationship between Jonas and Marva is very complicated and very very delicate. Such that the dynamic is with Raul playing Jonas, I can't see it working the way it, IMO, should. It's completely illogical to me, and I hope it's just a weird rumor. It just doesn't fit.
If it's true, however (of which I am skeptical), I hope I am wrong in that (assumptive) assessment, and that she surprises me. The powers that be have done too much right with this show to screw it up like that (again, not by putting her in it because she's Brooke Shields, but by messing with the character as much as it seems like this would). I just want it to be as good as it has the potential to be.
So that's my opinion, for what it's worth, since I saw the show in pretty recent form. And honestly, don't these kinds of rumors turn out to be false almost as often as they turn out to be true?
From an internet interview with Frank Grillo, one of Raul's co-stars in "My Soul to Take," the news that the movie is going to be post-produced into 3D format, and that Craven wasn't happy about a lot of the ambiguity of the villain's character and did a significant re-shoot to make the bad guy seem more like a traditional horror villain. I'm definitely going to have to have a drink before viewing this one. Somebody please put Raul in a Woody Allen movie!
Sigh. I wouldn't be surprised if, after all is said and done, there will be one fragment of a scene with a recognizeable Raul in it, and the rest will be the stunt guy in makeup and CGI. Poor Raul may end up on the proverbial cutting room floor (which, in my somewhat skewed opinion, is not a bad thing).
I am kind of thinking the cutting room floor might be a blessing. I was watching PUSHING DAISIES last night and thought - he's cute and romantic and funny in that. He just needs the right material/director/billing.
I would hope they had Raul in to read with any serious candidates. And I honestly think they will have really good chemistry in all of the ways that Raul and Sutton did not.
Lucky people living in the Southeast - Raul is performing in Georgia Saturday night at a Ritz-Carlton outside of Atlanta (don't know much Georgia geography so sorry to be so vague) (fireworks followed by fireworks, if you know what I mean) and then is reprising BABALU in Miami from July 8 - 11. Have fun!
It was a nice evening. Held on a SPECTACULARLY Beautiful spot on Lake Oconee...
The Symphony Orchestra Augusta did a few "family friendly" pieces (Dance of the Hours, LooneyTunes Medley and Finlandia), before bringing Raul on stage, accompanied by Mary-Mitchell Campbell.
He opened his set with "Younger Than Springtime;" "Everybody Says Don't" from Anyone Can Whistle; did a Fantastic "Begin the Beguine" (half in Spanish); "America the Beautiful" matched with Parade's "The Old Red Hills of Home"; "Out There" from Disney's "Hunchback of Notre Dame;" a kickass "Georgia on My Mind" (piano only); and finished with "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" which he dedicated to his parents in the audience. (He said it was *their song*) Only a 35 minute set! But the crowd ate it up (especially "Georgia" and "The Old Red Hills of Home.")
He was OK with his chatter, talking up Sondheim & Mencken & Stephen Schwartz, and the upcoming "Leap of Faith" I was with a crowd who had never seen him perform other than the DVD of "Company" He went over well.
After a 15 minute Intermission, the concert closed with the Orchestra's 1812 Overture and collection of Sousa & patriotic songs and Fireworks.