A Load of Musical Revivals for the Coming Season — Page 2

Doug Hodge WILL win best actor. His is the Christine Ebersole, Patti LuPone, Geoffrey Rush performance.

>I bet LA CAGE will take the Tony for Revival. And if it does, it will have won AGAIN just five years after the last revival won and it will also be the first show to win two Best Revival Tonys.<

Death of a Salesman won the award in 1984 for the Dustin Hoffman production and in 1999 for the Brian Dennehy production.

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Yes, James Lapine is attached to direct iSondheim.

Merrily fell through? When? I heard like three weeks ago on pretty decent authority that it was still happening at some point soon.

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Updated On: 6/18/09 at 05:36 PM

Oh, yeah, this was just that it's coming back -- not necessarily in Roundabout's hands.

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RE: Cheyenne in Finian's Rainbow. I have it on VERY good authority (someone whose relationship with Cheyenne couldn't be any closer) recently advised that nothing has been finalized and that Cheyenne is up for some other interesting properties. Doesn't mean that Cheyenne/Finian won't happen, but it's definitely nowhere near any sort of closure.

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Doug Hodge WILL win best actor. His is the Christine Ebersole, Patti LuPone, Geoffrey Rush performance.

Tell that to Daniel Evans and Jenna Russell. This is what everyone said the moment Sunday in the Park with George was announced as a transfer. The Actor and Actress in a musical Tonys were a done deal for Evans and Russell at that point. We saw how well that worked out.

Updated On: 6/18/09 at 06:33 PM

It's not always wise to count in shows that haven't been "officially" announced (or had official start dates announced): BRIGADOON was supposed to come in last season, and FOR COLORED GIRLS... too, and they didn't. Even GODSPELL (which did have an opening date set) was supposed to have opened last season, and it didn't (stupid Demon Economy...)

BYE BYE BIRDIE: Roundabout doesn't have a great track record, and BIRDIE is running in the fall. I don't think it'll go anywhere big - maybe a token nomination for one of the supporting cast.

A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC: When the show first opened in the 1970s, a common comment was its "elegant and amusing" quality. The show is a bit tame, a bit safe, but any Sondheim is better than most of the stuff out there. The show, being about love and sexual relations, does need to have a certain HEAT, and Trevor Nunn isn't exactly the "warmest" director out there.

Who knows? The show hasn't been revived in forever, and I only hope it doesn't go the way of the 2004 PACIFIC OVERTURES, or the 2001 FOLLIES.

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Adamgreer hit the nail on the head.

"Oh, good God! Are "die hard theater fans" only 12 years old nowadays? FINIAN'S RAINBOW has a rich score and a wonderful reputation. There were excellent productions of it at City Center, Jones Beach and the Music Fair circuit. Just because it doesn't star Gavin Creel or the "amazing" Sutton Foster doesn't mean it'll have box office problems."

Dolly, all I was saying that it is not as well known as Birdie, ALNM, and others. I also said I was familiar with the show and I do believe it has a sensational score. Also I am just repeating other BWW members when I say that many people on the board have not heard of it. It is a wonderful show and I hope it does very very well but I just feel it might struggle with all of the big shows coming in this year.

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Just a point to consider concerning Finian's Rainbow and the Irish Rep. It's a lot easier to sell out and extend a show in a 99 seat theatre than it will be in the 1600 seat St. James. I don't remember how long it ran at the Irish Rep, but let's say 10 weeks. So that gives 80 performances, assuming there were 8 shows a week. Even with every performance completely sold out that is only 60% capacity for one week at the St. James. So to me using the "it sold-out at the Irish Rep so it will therefore do great on Broadway" theory does not really translate into truly usable numbers (not to mention other successful Off-Broadway transfers that sank once arriving on the Great White Way).

And don't forget that pre-Broadway tour of the show back in the late 90's that folded on the road and never made it. I'm not saying the show doesn't have potential, but it's definitely going to be a very hard sell.

In addition to the huge operating costs of the original production, as previously stated, it also fell victim to the fact that Livent was corrupt and cooking the books. As others have said, to say audiences ignored the original production is far from the truth.

Re. BYE BYE BIRDIE being just for young people: I disagree. I saw the OBC at the Martin Beck back in 1961 when I was in college. Director-Choreographer Gower Champion took a fairly simple idea and made a hugely successful production of it. Its book is extremely funny--I think it holds up well, having seen the Tommy Tune production in the early 1990's and still laughing my way through it. The scenes with Harry MacAfee and Mae Peterson are particularly funny. And the dance numbers add a lot. It DOES need a good director-choreographer. I guess given Roundabout's track record with musicals, the success remains to be seen. But BIRDIE is not just for young people.

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