Ad libbing

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Ad libbing

Posted: 1/6/11 at 12:19pm

I read in Michael Riedel's column last week that on a recent night,
Elaine Stritch couldn't think of the word mansion. She finally said" Desiree,when you come to visit,you always confuse me!". My question for anyone who saw this is did Bernadette stick to the script or did she ad lib too?

Ad libbing

Posted: 1/6/11 at 12:25pm

Yes, I was there.
Bernadette visibly panicked and spluttered for a second before regaining her composure and moving seamlessly into Rose's Turn.

I'm surprised anyone else noticed.

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Posted: 1/8/11 at 12:40pm

Hmm,interesting song choice. I would have thought that song was better suited to Elaine's voice. "wink wink nudge nudge"

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Posted: 1/8/11 at 7:31pm

When I saw it, she started rambling as if looking for the words, before the girl playing Fredrika asked a rather leading question to help her.

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Posted: 1/8/11 at 8:51pm

imagine what the final performance will be like

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Posted: 1/8/11 at 9:24pm

She was a mess tuesday night. She couldn't remember the lines and Bernadette tried helping her "was it like..." and Stritch screamed "DON'T TELL ME WHAT IT IS!"

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Posted: 1/8/11 at 9:46pm

^ Yeah, I remember that. There was also another instance where Bernadette was helping her out, but I can't remember what it was.

"I don't want the pretty lights to come and get me."-Homecoming 2005 "You can't pray away the gay."-Callie Torres on Grey's Anatomy. Ignored Users: suestorm, N2N Nate., Owen22, master bates

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Posted: 1/8/11 at 10:11pm

Could this be why we're not getting this show filmed?

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Posted: 1/8/11 at 10:20pm

I had heard they were filming ALNM this past thursday.

#10

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Posted: 1/8/11 at 11:08pm

^ That was for the Lincoln Center Library Archives.

If they were going to produce a film of the show for us, they would probably film multiple performances, and could probably be edited together to get most of her lines. I've seen her 4 times, and the Wooden Ring speech has been flawless all but one time. Her speech describing the dessert wine, however, has been a mess all but one time. Never seen it go perfectly for her, but I'm convinced with 3 different performances filmed they'd be able to pull something together. Not that any of this matters as they're not filming it for our benefit.

#11

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Posted: 1/9/11 at 3:11pm

Speaking of Ad libbing. I had a great experience on Friday night at the Addams Family. Nathan Lane accidentally hit himself in the face with a whip during one scene. Nathan and the other actor tried for almost 10 minutes to get the back on its feet, but the two just kept losing it. Finally, Nathan said something like, "F*** It! Just go to the next scene" and the two actors walked up a flight of stairs just laughing hysterically.

The audience ate it up!!!

Later, the incredible Jackie Hoffman included a joke about wanting a man who will hit her in face with a whip so her lips would swell and make her look like Angelina Jolie! Again, everyone (cast included) just died laughing.

Probably one of the single best moments I've seen on Broadway because in that one moment everything was real. The actors were laid bare on stage and everyone got to see the rare White Whale of Broadway - when consummate professionals just disintegrate into giddiness. Well everyone but Bebe Neuwirth who didn't even crack a smile during the whole affair.

TD

Show's I've Seen: 2011: American Idiot, Lombardi, Screwtape Letters, Adams Family, Imaginocean, Phantom - 2010: Spiderman, A Little Night Music, Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson, La Cage aux Faux, Next to Normal (twice), Fanny (City Center), Next Fall, - 2009: Finian's Rainbow, Let Me Down Easy, Toxic Avenger, Hair, Mary Stuart, 9 to 5, Avenue Q (a few times), Young Frankenstein, Cry Baby, Applause (City Center), Xanadu, Legally Blond, Glorious Ones, Gutenberg: The Musical, Spring Awakening, Company, Dessa Rose, Jersey Boys, The Color Purple, Taboo, Altar Boys, Lestat, The Weddings Singer, Hairspray, Spamalot, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Wicked, Brooklyn, Urinetown, 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Grey Gardens, Drowsy Chaperon, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Les Miserable, Aida, Great American Trailer Park Musical, Into The Woods, Naked Boys Singing, Cabaret, Last Five Years, Jekyll & Hyde, Corpus Christi, Side Show, Rent (a few times), Footloose, and Ragtime (First Broadway Show I saw).

#12

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Posted: 1/9/11 at 4:40pm

^ That was for the Lincoln Center Library Archives.

Did they get CZJ & Angela as well?

#13

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Posted: 1/9/11 at 4:42pm

I've read on here that they did, but that CZJ's understudy was on the night they filmed that.

#14

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Posted: 1/9/11 at 4:46pm

Oh. So was that one trashed or can you still watch it?

#15

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Posted: 1/10/11 at 12:02am

I'm by no means an expert, but I would assume that if they filmed it, they must have it in their archives. I don't think they would trash it after spending the money to film it.

#16

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Posted: 1/10/11 at 12:36am

Great story, TheatreDork3! Nathan tends to ad-lib a lot.

#17

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Posted: 1/10/11 at 5:17am

"I've seen her 4 times, and the Wooden Ring speech has been flawless all but one time."

Are you taking into account the changes she made in the text? Each time I saw it, she had changed the text from the original. The original text is, "...I wanted everything - the moon - jewels, yachts, villas on the Riviera..." Each time I saw it, Stritch said, "...I wanted everything - the moon - and yachts - and jewels, and villas on the Riviera..." She seemed to particularly stress the "and yachts" part, which she moved ahead of "jewels", milking that for laughs. When you saw it, did she say the lines correctly, or did she use what seems to be her own take on it?

Updated On: 1/10/11 at 05:17 AM

#18

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Posted: 1/10/11 at 5:30am

The Jayne Paterson (?)/Lansbury Archive video is on the NYPL catalogue, so you can watch it.

Give me claws and a hunch, just away from this bunch.

#19

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Posted: 1/10/11 at 8:33am

"Are you taking into account the changes she made in the text?"

She may have added in some "ands" but in terms of delivery, it was flawless. The one time when it didn't stress me out for her to try to deliver a line.

#20

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Posted: 1/10/11 at 9:52pm

When I saw Drowsy Chaperone, there was a break during " I am Adolpho" right after the line " I can sing it very fast " where the audience was laughing and you could see the actor fighting back laughter too. I had never seen anything like that but it was a great memory.

#21

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Posted: 1/11/11 at 1:28am

"She may have added in some "ands" but in terms of delivery, it was flawless. The one time when it didn't stress me out for her to try to deliver a line."

Oh, in what I was referring to, she actually changed around the ordering, so it wasn't just changing "ands". It was a surprise to hear the first time, and I thought at first it was done in error as opposed to being done intentionally.

Updated On: 1/11/11 at 01:28 AM

#22

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Posted: 1/12/11 at 11:58am

I guess I hope that if Elaine Stritch accepts a role in another play,that she at least considers using an earpiece. I would think it would make it easier for her and the audience wouldn't have to wonder if she was going to have a good night or a bad one.
Given her personality,I'm not holding my breath though.

#23

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Posted: 1/12/11 at 12:27pm

-When I saw Night Music back in August, during the dessert wine line Stritch got stuck and said "goodness gracious what was it...ah possess, that's what I was looking for, it is said to possess" (whether that was partially intended in the original text or just a Stritch-ism I will never know.)

-Back in October, towards the end of WOTV Laura went up to Patti and said "we haven't met, I'm Candela" after a long amount of laughter from the audience. Again, whether that was ad libbed or in the text will remain a mystery to me.

#24

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Posted: 1/12/11 at 12:56pm

-Back in October, towards the end of WOTV Laura went up to Patti and said "we haven't met, I'm Candela" after a long amount of laughter from the audience.

It's in the text. A really funny moment, though.

When I saw WOTV for a second time in December, there were a few prop malfunctions. The first one happened with the blender stand, once Sherie removed the glass part and put it in the freezer, the stand wouldn't stop blending. Laura just kept going "Stop the blending, make it stop blending, it's still blending!" And Sherie threw it out the window and was like, "I just love throwing things out the window."

Later on in act 2, when Sherie's character goes to throw the phone out the window for the second time. Sherie picked the phone up and pulled and the cord got stuck on the handle of the drawer of the nightstand. She kept pulling it, not realizing why it was stuck. Laura and Justing were supposed to be telling her not to, but Laura was like, "It's stuck...it's stuck...you have to unstick the thing there." Sherie finally realized what was going on, so she fixed it and then Laura was like, "Okay, now throw it." When they freeze after that scene, Laura was shaking she was laughing so hard.

#25

Ad libbing

Posted: 1/12/11 at 1:11pm

The beauty of live theatre is that anthing can happen & often does. To watch a real pro recover is terrific. And, yes, sometimes it happens that the actors can't recover & get the giggles & that's only human. But - and I'm sure I'm going to be flamed here - I sure wish they wouldn't draw it out. I wish they would act like the pros they are & continue w/ the show as written & directed as much as possible & not try to play w/ the audience that way. I always feel robbed when the actors barely try to get back into the scene.

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