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

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.)

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)

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.

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

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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.

She discusses her childhood.

She discusses going to a bullfight in Mexico.

^ 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.

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

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.

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

LOL.

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.

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?

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