Amy Adams to play The Baker's Wife- Page 4

[best12bars]

Posted: 4/4/12 at 7:36am

I'd rather see Jane Krakowski play it than Donna Murphy.

[peachesr82]

Posted: 4/4/12 at 7:39am

I think it's inspired casting and I'm sure she'll be great. It strikes me as quite a bold move on her part too, I like that she's not one to rest on her laurels. It's one thing to sing on film, another to do a musical every night. I have no knowledge of her stage experience, but I've liked when she sings in films, she actually did a pretty duet with Lee Pace in Mrs Pettigrew Lives For A Day. And she sang at the Oscars too. I think she'll be great.

[RainbowJude]

Posted: 4/4/12 at 8:39am

I tend to agree with those who are complaining that Amy Adams is too much of an ingénue and I say that with full consideration given to her grittier work in THE FIGHTER. I'm sure she can pull it off, but there almost certainly won't be the contrast that there should be between Cinderella and the Baker's Wife, and I hate it when that happens. That certainly was one of the things that irked me about the last Broadway revival, although I suppose there was a remarkable contrast in quality of the two performances. Still, it all boils down to the fact that was that Kerry O'Malley was simply miscast and then directed badly.

Maybe it'll work. I don't know. At any rate, I think it's fair enough for anyone to have their doubts about it.

And at least it's not Sutton Borester.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 4/4/12 at 8:50am

"For those who don't know the concept of this particular production, she sorta plays two roles...and she will be perfect and poignant as both..."

What's that about? I don't know the concept and I'm having difficulty imagining how the Baker's Wife could be two roles, sorta, or otherwise.

[North2009]

Posted: 4/4/12 at 9:15am

She lived here in Minneapolis for awhile and did a few shows at the big dinner theatre here in town, she was quite good - recall her doing CRAZY FOR YOU (very funny), BRIGADOON (as Jeannie) and GOOD NEWS (she walked away with the show as Babe). They cast a lot of the film "Drop Dead Gorgeous" here in town, and after that she was LA bound.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 4/4/12 at 10:50am

Adams was a struggling actor for a very long time before everyone sort of discovered her in JUNEBUG, but as North2009 said, she did a lot of regional theatre before. I don't think this will be Julia Roberts trying out stage for the first time, it reminds me more of Jennifer Garner's Broadway debut.
Besty, I love the idea of Jane Krakowski as the Witch, but Donna Murphy can do no wrong in my book. I think they'd both be thrilling in their own way, and they've both worked with Sondheim in the past.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 4/4/12 at 10:51am

I love Jane Krakowski but the idea of her singing the Witch's material doesn't thrill me much.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 4/4/12 at 10:59am

MichaelBennett, that's a fair criticism, Krakowski did have to go through a lot of voice lessons and vocal coaching when she did NINE, and according to her own account, Maury Yeston almost didn't even see her for Carla because he didn't want her singing the role (he remembered her range back from when they briefly worked in GRAND HOTEL). She dedicated herself a lot to that role and turned in a pretty iconic performance.
Of course she probably wouldn't be able to dedicate herself to this (a short run in Central Park) in the same way, so I see where you're coming from, but at the same time i think she'd be wickedly funny and quite vulnerable. I doubt she's the "Tony winning actress," but I'd be excited if she was cast in this.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 4/4/12 at 11:01am

I think she's a good singer. I think she'd be great as Dot in SUNDAY or as the Baker's Wife in INTO THE WOODS, I just don't think her voice has the kind of intensity or color that I really envision for the Witch. I do feel Murphy vocally is more apt for the part.

[best12bars]

Posted: 4/4/12 at 11:08am

See, I think Jane is the right type for the Witch, and Donna isn't.

I think Donna can sing it better than Jane, but not enough to make me want to see her in the the part.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 4/4/12 at 11:11am

See I, at least, see the Witch has having a cold, steely aloof elegance. Krakowski is so earthy and warm and gregarious. What about her make her right for the Witch in your view Best12?

[best12bars]

Posted: 4/4/12 at 11:17am

Well, since you force me to be blunt, I don't think Donna is pretty enough. To think the Witch would want to spend her whole life and all her energies trying to get those looks back?

Yes, I know they've cast other "non-beauties" as the Witch in the past, and it's never worked as well in Act II.

Donna can be an ice princess with a "Beverly Hills matron" look. It's never going to be a "rare beauty" though. I also think the Witch should be much sexier than that, so I don't agree that the aloofness is a prime quality for her. It's fine, if she's also drop-dead gorgeous, but it's not essential. She has to have a definite dark side to her in Act II, no question. But not necessarily "aloofness."

EDIT: You also have Amy Adams, who will have to tone down her looks (no makeup etc.) to be the Baker's Wife. She can't be prettier than the Witch or your story will be really messed up.

Updated On: 4/4/12 at 11:17 AM

[TxTwoStep]

Posted: 4/4/12 at 11:21am

i think this conversation about the Witch's attributes is particularly interesting given the role's origins, which if i recall were first Buckley and then Saint Bernadette.

[Lavieboheme3090]

Posted: 4/4/12 at 11:22am

Anybody else remember when she played Tara's cousin on Buffy the Vampire Slayer? No joke, so good! Very excited for this.

[best12bars]

Posted: 4/4/12 at 11:26am

Saint Bernadette was incredibly beautiful when she did the original Broadway show. Buckley never would have worked well in the role, as written.

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 4/4/12 at 11:32am

Would I be hanged to suggest the Tony-winning actress Idina Menzel?

[best12bars]

Posted: 4/4/12 at 11:37am

Idina has the sexiness, even though she's an unconventional beauty (at least to me). I still think she would be great in the part.

Man, the publicity could really go crazy. You have two female stars from "Enchanted," plus you have Idina playing "the other Broadway Witch."

Sell those tickets, ladies!

EDIT: I guess it has to come down to this for the Witch's beauty: can I picture men giving up everything they have (wives, fortunes) to sleep with her and be with her? It's not so much if she's a conventional beauty or not ... but she has to be sexy enough to turn men to "the dark side." That's a kind of power I could see the Witch craving and wanting to have. So while Donna Murphy can be elegantly aloof and certainly attractive in that Beverly Hills way ... I don't see legions of men leaving everything they have for her. But Jane Krakowski and Idina Menzel both have that sexiness ... and Idina would sing the crap out of it, too.

Updated On: 4/4/12 at 11:37 AM

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 4/4/12 at 11:39am

That's EXACTLY what I was thinking. Plus, instead of taking the songs down, take them UP and have the bitch scream at us for two and a half hours.

I want CHILDREN WILL LISTEN as a goddamn power ballad!

[TxTwoStep]

Posted: 4/4/12 at 11:42am

i think there are so many aspects of the Witch that Idina is not a bad choice at all, though i can see the other contenders in this thread as well. i think the role was altered from Buckley to Saint Bernadette, as in that era, Sondheim/Lapine were in a "workshop" mode of composition, where the acting company very much influenced the evolution of the characters (see this thread's stamp of Gleason on The Baker's Wife). In the original B'way run, by happenstance, i greedily got to see many of them, and saw Vanessa in the revival; i have also seen quite a few regionally, not the least of which was La Uggams. Each different, each fascinating...

[BwayTday]

Posted: 4/4/12 at 11:43am

"Plus, instead of taking the songs down, take them UP and have the bitch scream at us for two and a half hours."

That is my favorite thing ever said ever. Take the rap up four steps.

[best12bars]

Posted: 4/4/12 at 11:46am

I saw the L.A. production with Cleo Laine ... and while she was very good in the part, it didn't quite work.

And I agree about them tailoring the role for the actress. I should ask those of you who know ... have they altered the role of the Witch significantly for this incarnation? If they change her motivation and/or her backstory, it could make a big difference. But if it's pretty much the same as when Bernadette originated it, I would try to get a sexy beautiful Witch, for sure.

EDIT: I could really hear Idina wail away on "Stay With Me" and "The Last Midnight."

Updated On: 4/4/12 at 11:46 AM

[TxTwoStep]

Posted: 4/4/12 at 11:49am

double post and now edited below...BWW hiccup.

Updated On: 4/4/12 at 11:49 AM

[TxTwoStep]

Posted: 4/4/12 at 11:50am

again, i'm old and chuckleheaded, but if memory serves, i think at what is now the Hirschfield i saw personalities as varied as Rue McClanahan, Cynthia Sikes, Lady Phylicia Rashad Not Cosby, and that redhead from TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT essay the Witch...but i could be confusing the befuddled-yet-sexy sitcom sidekicks of the era. Did the Weisslers produce that? was it proto-TVQ casting?

[TxTwoStep]

Posted: 4/4/12 at 11:53am

picturing Menzel's in the role's signature moments, and not knowing the source of this "concept" for this production...one wonders if the duet for Witch/Rapunzel from the West End will be included? La Uggams did that particularly well. Great for power belters.

[best12bars]

Posted: 4/4/12 at 11:54am

As I recall Cynthia Sikes played the Baker's Wife, not the Witch ... but you're right about the rest of them.

I don't mean to claim others see the part the way I do. I'm just going with the Witch's own backstory and her motivations in the show. She is willing to do anything and spend her life trying to get her looks back. I don't feel the end result shouldn't be Rue McClennahan or Nancy Dussault. (Nothing against those ladies ... but they didn't exactly launch a thousand ships with their faces---even if Blanche always thought she did).