Any Musicals in line for the National, Donmar or Menier? — Page 2

Spelling Bee wasn't a flop on Broadway, was it? I was fairly sure it recouped. Not sure if that's what you're talking about, though.

I'd love to see Falsettos over here (although surely it must have been done professionally?), it's an incredible show, and something that could probably work in any of the three venues in the topic! I'm fairly sure there's only been two productions of A New Brain in the UK (one near London and one at the Fringe), though, both of which were amateur. It's a shame, I do like Bill Finn a lot but he's just not that well known here.

devonian, the LaChiusa Wild Party's on at the Bridewell in a few months' time courtesy of SEDOS (decent amdram group, lots of out-of-work actors!). I'd like to see someone take on See What I Wanna See or Little Fish out of LaChiusa's work, I think they're both quite Donmar-y.

To go a little offtopic, I saw La Cage at the Menier when Spencer Stafford was on and Philip Quast was still in it. I didn't think the show was particularly good at all, and am still a bit surprised that it's had such great reports. Did it get a lot better with different leads, leaving aside my general disinterest in the story?

Right - Spelling Bee was most certainly not a flop. I was lucky enough to see it twice and loved it both times (and it was pretty packed both times). The second time I saw it was the last night for a large number of the cast and William Finn came on stage at the end to say his thanks to those who were leaving, which was quite special. One of those leaving was the fabulous Barret Foa, who I thought was even better than Jesse Tylor Ferguson as Leaf Coneybear - a quite extraordinary performance I thought. If it does ever get done over here, I can't imagine anyone equalling that performance. Still, I hope it gets done at the Donmar, Menier or ANYWHERE - coz I'd love to see it again!

---

I never said Spelling Bee flopped. It sure as hell didn't in New York (though it was NOT a particularly strong seller on tour.)

Why do I bother in the first place...

It was indeed - your post hadn't shown up when I started writing mine (and didn't appear when I'd posted it either as far as I remember), apologies for any inconvenience caused. It's a bit difficult on here as there's absolutely no threading whatsoever and a lack of a quote button, apologies if I've accidentally offended you exedore as I certainly didn't read your post to imply that Spelling Bee was a flop.

110 In The Shade is a fantastic musical! It is one of my all-time favourite scores (and "Is It Really Me?" is one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard). Even all the cut songs from this score that I've heard are great songs.

I saw the production at Studio 54 with Audra MacDonald - both she and the production were superb (and Bobby Steggart was terrific too).

A concert version was performed in London (at the Fortune theatre) a few years ago in the Ian Marshall Fisher "Lost Musicals" series, with Louise Gold as Lizzie.

---

Updated On: 3/10/09 at 07:03 PM