Posted: 4/6/25 at 7:41pm
I could see Benjamin Button doing really well in NYC.As the extended run of Once proved, there’d be no problem casting the show for Broadway but I do hope Olivier winner John Dagleish and Olivier nominee Clare Foster get to recreate their work for New York audiences. This show is magical.
Posted: 4/6/25 at 7:51pm
ajh said: "I could see Benjamin Button doing really well in NYC.As the extended run of Once proved, there’d be no problem casting the show for Broadway but I do hope Olivier winner John Dagleish and Olivier nominee Clare Foster get to recreate their work for New York audiences. This show is magical."
The entire original London cast is coming over. All the actor-musicians make it tougher to recast.
Posted: 4/6/25 at 8:40pm
Sadly, we have no actor-musicians in NYC.
Posted: 4/6/25 at 8:55pm
Kad said: "Sadly, we have no actor-musicians in NYC."
Patti and her tuba.
Posted: 4/6/25 at 9:50pm
Owen22 said: "C4b2a3b said: "I guess I should see Giant? I see there are some tickets when I go. Anybody catch it at Royal Court?"
Yes. The thesis of Giant comes down to the bigotted dictum that anyone who is pro Palestinian is secretly anti-semitic. It's why I disliked this play very, very much and I lost respect for Nicholas Hytner who is not a fan of Jeremy Corbyn and suppisedly agreed to direct this play to kick the man when he's down. However Lithgowis brilliant in it."
sir this is a Wendys
Posted: 4/6/25 at 9:54pm
EDSOSLO858 said: "ajh said: "I could see Benjamin Button doing really well in NYC.As the extended run of Once proved, there’d be no problem casting the show for Broadway but I do hope Olivier winner John Dagleish and Olivier nominee Clare Foster get to recreate their work for New York audiences. This show is magical."
The entire original London cast is coming over. All the actor-musicians make it tougher to recast."
I’m sorry, what?
Posted: 4/6/25 at 10:00pm
Owen22 said: "C4b2a3b said: "I guess I should see Giant? I see there are some tickets when I go. Anybody catch it at Royal Court?"
Yes. The thesis of Giant comes down to the bigotted dictum that anyone who is pro Palestinian is secretly anti-semitic. It's why I disliked this play very, very much and I lost respect for Nicholas Hytner who is not a fan of Jeremy Corbyn and suppisedly agreed to direct this play to kick the man when he's down. However Lithgowis brilliant in it."
The Palestinian people desperately deserve allies and supporters who are NOT anti-semitic. It would change the game, and I believe it will happen some day. For the time being though, we get the Roald Dahls of the world, a man who backed Palestinians via unrepentant, blatant anti-Semitism. Decades later, and its Susan Sarandon, Jeremy Corbyn and their ilk, accomplishing nothing but alienation and misery.
Lithgow will win the Tony next year, fwiw.
Posted: 4/6/25 at 10:05pm
Last year on this board, in one of these threads, everyone was poo pooing the possibility of a Fiddler revival.
Posted: 4/6/25 at 11:02pm
Fiddler just locked its position for my next trip, that and a revisit to Giant (such an incredible play that I’m sure breathes better on a larger stage).
Posted: 4/7/25 at 9:19am
I hope you like it and I hope it breathes life into in a show that is overdone.
Personally, the last thing I need to see is another production of Fiddler. I’ve seen it on Broadway twice (including the Leveaux production that leaned into casting non-Jews). I’ve seen it in Yiddish. That doesn’t include junior high school, high school and regional productions and the overlong movie.
Posted: 4/7/25 at 5:34pm
The Snubs and Surprises of the 2025 Olivier Awards
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/07/theater/olivier-awards-2025-snubs-surprises.html?unlocked_article_code=1.904.qASI.8GW_qQmSoB-S&smid=nytcore-android-share
Posted: 4/7/25 at 5:38pm
As they don't award score and book - are the authors awarded best musical - or does it go to the producders like at the tony awards?
Posted: 4/10/25 at 2:18pm
I don't know what's standard but one of my best friends wrote the book for a musical that won Best Musical and they did get an actual trophy to keep.
Posted: 4/10/25 at 2:27pm
I think the people who write book/music/lyrics for a musical get an Olivier for Best Musical, though I'm not actually sure if the producer does as well.
Posted: 4/13/25 at 3:53am
I finally saw ‘Benjamin button’. It’s a sweet scrappy show with some heart, sentiment, engaging staging/actors who play instruments, a little bit of a dark underdone at points, some lovely - sometimes beautiful - choral singing and some decent performances.
But I think it belongs in the west end, not New York City. Somewhat like ‘standing at the sky’s edge’ (but less extreme) the show is very much in the vain of ‘big picture’ atmosphere/sentiment/emotion rather than being too concerned about the very fine details of book/music/lyric integration to tell a story with the same kind of craft of the NYC musical tradition.
But unlike ‘standing at the sky’s edge’ I’m also not convinced there is THAT much substance musically behind the show. It’s all very generic folky music to me, with occasional magical moments but a lot of filler. The cast and staging sell it, but I don’t think it’s the kind of thing I would find much value of in a recording.
NYC just actually had a show with a similar scrappy vibe/set with a bit of sentiment and dark (well much more dark) undertones - Swept Away - which for me was much more satisfying, especially musically. I think if Benjamin Button transferred to New York and especially Broadway it would be quickly Swept Away.
Benjamin Button
Swept Away
Updated On: 4/13/25 at 03:53 AM
Posted: 4/13/25 at 7:43am
It is not hard to imagine some level of audience being attracted to Benjamin Button because of its source material in a way that Swept Away could never match. How much that could help support the show in NYC remains unknown, but it might be enough to start building a base and positive word of mouth during previews.
Posted: 5/4/25 at 12:37pm
Having just seen Giant (3 May) I can say it is the one London show that even exceeded its already high praise.
The entire cast is quite good and Mark Rosenblatt's script is exceptional. I can see this doing very well in NYC.
So glad I sat in the front row so I could closely observe the master class of John Lithgow's performance. Seats overall are pricey for London, so the fact that the front row was one of the least expensive options is icing on the cake.
