Anyone see Bette Midler's first show?- Page 3

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 4/8/13 at 6:12pm

Good point, Luv. In addition to the challenge of learning so much material, there are the frequent changes as opening night approaches. I'm glad you mentioned those.

It's one thing to learn a new scene at 10 a.m. and perform it at 2 when you are 21; quite another when you are 70! (Though if anybody can do it, Midler probably can.)

Posted: 4/8/13 at 7:14pm

I would like to see the show up front, but hesitate because there might be "cigarette" smoke that close. Telecharge does not know if there is any type of smoking. Is there a lot of smoking? I saw TITANIC from the 5th row, and the smoke was terrible. Thanks for any help.

[Jamie Pierce]

Posted: 4/8/13 at 7:21pm

Elaine Stritch famously (at least in my circles) called out for "Mary" to provide line during previews for Little Night Music. Mary had her work cut out for her. (Poor Mary is going to be out of a job soon)

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 4/8/13 at 8:06pm

Hope this helps (everybody)

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 4/8/13 at 9:26pm

I'm back from the show tonight and was amused, but not really wowed by the proceedings.

As has been noted, Midler indeed sits on that damn couch for the entire 90 minutes and conversationally chats with the audience, relating 70s Hollywood gossip with glee. Of course nothing speaks to a 2013 audience like some dish about Ali MacGraw and Steve McQueen or a quip about how Margaret O'Brien's career peaked too soon.

There is an amusing story about Mengers taking a trip to visit Sissy Spacek's "mud farm" in Virginia; she was up to her twat in mud, but an agent needs to do anything to gain a new client.

There are some jokes about Streisand making Yentl that had me laughing, but I rarely was cracking up by the stories.

Logan, Here's how the Diana Ross joke goes. Mengers is giving her five golden rules for being a good agent, and one of them is never remind stars about the past. She illustrated the point by saying, "Can you imagine walking down the red carpet at the Oscars and saying to Diana Ross, 'Gee, you've sure come a long way from giving Berry Gordy blow jobs in the back of a limo.'"

My biggest gripe though was the calling for lines and stumbling over the script. I didn't pay $85 to see someone not be prepared to perform a role. These are previews, so sure maybe she's still finding some of the laughs and working on character, but lines should be memorized before going onstage in front of a paying audience.

Papacusco, I saw your post today before the show and tried to PM you, but you don't accept PMs or I would have gladly met up with you. Next time.

[Papacusco]

Posted: 4/8/13 at 10:13pm

I am truly sorry you didnt enjoy it as much as I did. I enjoyed lots of the stories and will see it again in May after Bette has learned her lines I was in the front orchestra and had a wonderful evening The Barbra part was most enjoyable for an older person who saw Barbra in Funny Girl and Bette many nights at the Minskoff I would have loved to have met you since I enjoy your reviews and if you like something I generally will buy a ticket She should have learned all her lines but I didnt get that upset with her asking for lines

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 4/8/13 at 10:20pm

Is there any emotional thrust to this or is it just seventies celebrity anecdotes?

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 4/8/13 at 10:23pm

Re-reading what I wrote I think my tone was more negative than I meant it to be. I didn't love it, but it was an enjoyable evening. I think part of the problem was that I'm a 29 year old guy who didn't live through all the gossip she was dishing, so I found it hard to relate to some of the anecdotes. Jokes like Streisand turning down Klute didn't register- I got them, but it didn't trigger much of a response.

Edit: BorstalBoy, There is a slight emotional thrust at the end. She muses on how clients leave their agents all the time and how sometimes even your closest friends can betray you and move on, but this is a brief portion of the show. It is 90% celebrity gossip. (Mengers mentions that she only has two rules at her dinner parties: no subject other than Hollywood will be tolerated and no children. True to her word she doesn't discuss politics, religion or anything other than films, stars and the business.)

Updated On: 4/8/13 at 10:23 PM

[RippedMan]

Posted: 4/8/13 at 10:35pm

That seems like a silly choice. To just have her sit on the couch. No wonder they wanted the smallest theater on Broadway. I think I'd be really disappointed if she didn't even get up. I mean there's a whole set there right? Why not use it. Seems like a misfire from such a gifted writer.

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 4/8/13 at 10:43pm

There is a big set- I think most of it was left there after Other Desert Cities and they are just reusing it. Mengers' house looked almost identical to the Wyeth's.

[After Eight]

Posted: 4/8/13 at 10:45pm

She discusses her childhood.

She discusses going to a bullfight in Mexico.

[Rainbowhigh23]

Posted: 4/8/13 at 10:55pm

"I would like to see the show up front, but hesitate because there might be "cigarette" smoke that close. Telecha rge does not know if there is any type of smoking. Is there a lot of smoking? I saw TITANIC from the 5th row, and the smoke was terrible. Thanks for any help."

She chain smokes herbal cigarettes on stage, but I didn't see much of the smoke going into the first few rows. There is a LOT of smoking!

[defyingravity11]

Posted: 4/8/13 at 11:01pm

^ I saw the show tonight from the first row and the smoke didn't bother me at all. You can smell the herbal cigarettes, but the smoke doesn't really spill out into the house.

While it's certainly not a play of great weight, it was certainly a very enjoyable evening.

[logan2]

Posted: 4/8/13 at 11:33pm

Whizzer, thank you for the info on the Diana Ross joke. That's effing funny.

"Of course nothing speaks to a 2013 audience like some dish about Ali MacGraw and Steve McQueen or a quip about how Margaret O'Brien's career peaked too soon." - that cracked me up, Whizzer.

My next question to anyone who's seen it: are there any Faye Dunaway references? Mengers was Dunaway's agent in the 70's, and surely she had some stories to tell on Hurricane Faye!


Updated On: 4/8/13 at 11:33 PM

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 4/9/13 at 12:47am

I'm honestly shocked a pro like Midler doesn't have her lines down. I'll be there tomorrow, and I'm excited.

[logan2]

Posted: 4/9/13 at 1:00am

WiCkEDrOcKS, I'm excited for you. Keep an ear out for a Dunaway reference, and of course a retelling of any of your favorite lines would be welcome. Cheers!

[srg129]

Posted: 4/9/13 at 3:54am

This has to be a complete embarrassment if she can't even learn her lines for this show. There are so many other one woman shows out there that when Miss SH*Tler needs to call for lines she can't even find her way in the script or flounders around like a dipschitz. Pass on this fiasco. Her lazy azz wouldn't last 3 seconds if I was a producer of this bs.

I don't go to the theater to have old washed up stars floundering around with their lines like a f'ing mermaid in a wheelchair. Maybe that would have been a better ploy so that they could have taped her lines on index cards that she could have pulled them off of her wheelchair. A sorry excuse for a Broadway show. Probably the worst performance I've seen all season. Maybe even the worst of the decade. Do us all a favor Miss SH*Tler and get off the broadway stage and save your floundering self-indulgent laziness for the screen when you can have your 50 or 60 takes at remembering your lines. A complete embarrassment for Joe Mantello. Obviously he can't work magic when he has a steaming lazy incompetent dump pile thrown in his face. Or maybe his head and Bette's couldn't fit inside the theater doors. This is complete chit to the nth degree. Keep it far from your wallet and let it ride into forgotten oblivion.

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 4/9/13 at 3:59am

^ Someone woke up on the crabby side of the bed. Your evening's entertainment not give you a reach-around?

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 4/9/13 at 6:22am

As we discussed a page or two ago, Midler may be learning new lines or rearranged lines as the script is rewritten during previews. Which, is, of course, what previews are for.

If anything, the beef here should be with charging full price for previews, not with a 68-year-old actress who is learning a lot of material.

BTW, the fact that the evening contains no plot, action or movement actually makes it harder to memorize because one can't associate a certain line with a certain cross of the stage.

Updated On: 4/9/13 at 06:22 AM

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 4/9/13 at 6:55am

I'm happy to hear she can remember the blocking (though).

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 4/9/13 at 7:02am

LOL.

[ArtMan]

Posted: 4/9/13 at 7:50am

Is the character smoking and drinking while she is on the couch? Since most of us don't know who the real Sue Mengers was. If Bette couldn't remember a line, it seems like she could ad lib and blame it on her character's drinking. Or blame it on old age. Or the qualude she took twenty years ago. I would think that Bette could easily talk or joke her way of these line misses, so that they weren't so obvious to the audience.

[After Eight]

Posted: 4/9/13 at 7:58am

Art Man,

At the first preview, at least, the audience didn't seem to mind these flubs at all. In fact, Midler ad-libbed jokingly about them, and the audience ate it up.

The fact is, they served to spice up a little the placidity of the evening.

[AC126748]

Posted: 4/9/13 at 8:05am

Pass on this fiasco. Her lazy azz wouldn't last 3 seconds if I was a producer of this bs.

LOL. Is this the theatrical equivalent of Monday-morning quarterbacking?

The actual producers of the show are probably quite pleased it's been sold out every performance thus far.

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 4/9/13 at 8:09am

Logan, She does mention Dunaway in re: Chinatown. Another one of Mengers' rules is don't get hung up on the money. It's better to take a good role for less pay on your way up if it will further your career. To illustrate this she tells the story of how the female lead in Chinatown was between Jane Fonda and Dunaway. After much negotiation Dunaway got the part. Then she went on to win an Oscar for Network, and of course left Mengers for another agent.

I paraphrase, but the story wrapped up like this:

I'm pretty sure Faye thought I was a bitch, and I know she was a bitch. Well she thought she didn't need me, but last I heard she was playing Eva Peron in a TV movie. Who is having the last laugh now?