CONFIRMED: Audra McDonald-led GYPSY to begin previews Nov 2024- Page 12

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 5/29/24 at 4:34pm

DAME said: "Now this is how you re open a legendary Broadway house."

With a Sondheim-adjacent show where ALW's longest-running Broadway musical played. lmao.

[ACL2006]

Posted: 5/29/24 at 4:40pm

DeBose should return to Broadway in this.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 5/29/24 at 4:43pm

Sauja said: "As I prepare myself for on-sale tomorrow morning, I’d love people’s thoughts on the best/worst seats at the Majestic. It’s been a long time since I was there. As I fear center orchestra will be super pricey, I wonder particularly if anyone has strong opinions about rear mezzanine versus front/mid-mezzanine."


I've heard the actor playing Cigar will be blocked far upstage and not visible to the first few rows.

So you can sit close, but no Cigar. 😏

[binau]

Posted: 5/29/24 at 4:45pm

I love that up until an hour or two ago I almost would have certainly predicted Nicole S would have a Tony. I’m not saying it can’t happen but the odds are not looking very good for her anymore lol. 

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

Posted: 5/29/24 at 5:04pm

Believe me or don't, some reports from the front [by which I mean "a friend on the show who I didn't know was on the show until ten minutes ago"]:

- I'd known about this for a while already, including Audra's and George C. Wolfe's involvement (it was on Rudin's pre-cancellation shortlist), but when I poked into it recently after gossip started to surface, I was told Wolfe was retired and not accepting new projects (and, from another source, that he was attached pre-COVID, but that clearly wasn't the case anymore and they had someone else). Well, apparently he was well and truly retired, but then the director they hired dropped out; I believe it was a scheduling conflict or a health thing, they've heard both.

- So, they tried to coax him back to the table and he had several conditions. Number one, no new book; he was down to do Gypsy, not an Encores! rethink. (Thus the lack of a credited new libretto in the announcements.) They're ditching what was written, and either the person who wrote it already got their money or is getting their "don't come back" check shortly. Number two, he wanted moolah for getting off his duff to do this, and they reciprocated; he's got the directorial equivalent of a "Bette in Dolly" deal, a generous piece of the back-end, the whole nine. If this sells like I think it will, he will return to retirement a very rich man.

- No word on other casting yet, but get your tickets while you can. They are going big with this supporting cast, and once that drops, you won't be able to get a seat.

Updated On: 5/29/24 at 05:04 PM

[berniesb!tch]

Posted: 5/29/24 at 5:21pm

I need Gabby Beans as Louise.

[hearthemsing22]

Posted: 5/29/24 at 5:23pm

Is it possible they'll have an alternate a la Bette in Hello Dolly!? 

[DramaTeach]

Posted: 5/29/24 at 5:24pm

g.d.e.l.g.i. said: "Believe me or don't, some reports from the front [by which I mean "a friend on the show who I didn't know was on the show until ten minutes ago"]:

- I'd known about this for a while already, including Audra's and George C. Wolfe's involvement (it was on Rudin's pre-cancellation shortlist), but when I poked into it recently after gossip started to surface, I was told Wolfe was retired and not accepting new projects (and, from another source, that he was attached pre-COVID, but that clearly wasn't the case anymore and they had someone else). Well, apparently he was well and truly retired, but then the director they hired dropped out; I believe it was a scheduling conflict or a health thing, they've heard both.

- So, they tried to coax him back to the table and he had several conditions. Number one, no new book; he was down to do Gypsy, not an Encores! rethink. (Thus the lack of a credited new libretto in the announcements.) They're ditching what was written, and either the person who wrote it already got their money or is getting their "don't come back" check shortly. Number two, he wanted moolah for getting off his duff to do this, and they reciprocated; he's got the directorial equivalent of a "Bette in Dolly" deal, a generous piece of the back-end, the whole nine. If this sells like I think it will, he will return to retirement a very rich man.

- No word on other casting yet, but get your tickets while you can. They are going big with this supporting cast, and once that drops, you won't be able to get a seat."

I’d love to see someone like Janelle Monae as Louise. Don’t know if she has any interest in Broadway, but she’s very talented, and I think this would be perfect for her.

[Shubert Alley Cat]

Posted: 5/29/24 at 5:24pm

Why did I start crying watching the darn trailer?

[binau]

Posted: 5/29/24 at 5:25pm

I am genuinely shocked that we might have seen a Gypsy with a revised book and if I couldn’t respect the man enough already I love that he would have turned such a proposition down if true. George C Wolfe feels like one the greatest directors we have and I think it’s him not Audra that gives me confidence in this production. I’m sure he will find the performance in Audra she and we deserve. 

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 5/29/24 at 5:38pm

When I think of the great stagings I've seen in my life, George C. Wolfe is responsible for three of them (Angels in America, The Wild Party, Caroline, or Change). And when I think of the stagings I regret missing, it's Jelly's Last Jam, Noise/Funk and Shuffle Along. I'm going to be a freaking lunatic at 10am tomorrow. Happy 50th birthday to ME!

[OharaFosseWolfe888]

Posted: 5/29/24 at 5:47pm

ACL2006 said: "DeBose should return to Broadway in this."

Now this I would be very interested in. I am not interested in a white man playing Herbie in this revival, especially with George at the helm and Camille choreographing.....It's giving BLACK af and I am Oh So Excited! Stokes would be great, Pierce would be an interesting choice, there are a few others as well. Please cast Keke Palmer, that would be absolutely wonderful tbh. I see all of the Black Broadway girlies vying from Louise and June in the comments on IG and I hope it is a fruitful audition process for all. DeBose would be an incredible choice and could possibly finally land her the TONY (wishful thinking). 

[Play Esq.]

Posted: 5/29/24 at 5:48pm

I basically plan to LIVE at the Majestic beginning Nov 21…but I’m probably most looking forward to the original revival cast recording most.  That’s for a lifetime. 

[Robbie2]

Posted: 5/29/24 at 5:54pm

George C. Wolfe is Directing / Camille A. Brown will Choreograph!

Produced by Tom Kirdahy and Mara Isaacs

Updated On: 5/29/24 at 05:54 PM

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 5/29/24 at 5:55pm

Play Esq. said: "I’m probably most looking forward to the original revival cast recording most. That’s for a lifetime."

It’s probably the closest I’ll ever come to seeing this production live. 

[TaffyDavenport]

Posted: 5/29/24 at 5:55pm

OharaFosseWolfe888 said: "ACL2006 said: "DeBose should return to Broadway in this."

Now this I would be very interested in. I am not interested in a white man playing Herbie in this revival, especially with George at the helm and Camille choreographing.....It's giving BLACK af and I am Oh So Excited! Stokes would be great, Pierce would be an interesting choice, there are a few others as well. Please cast Keke Palmer, that would be absolutely wonderful tbh. I see all of the Black Broadway girlies vying from Louise and June in the comments on IG and I hope it is a fruitful audition process for all. DeBose would be an incredible choice and could possibly finally land her the TONY (wishful thinking)."

But Ariana DeBose isn't Black.

 

[Wick3]

Posted: 5/29/24 at 5:59pm

binau said: "I love that up until an hour or two ago I almost would have certainly predicted Nicole S would have a Tony. I’m not saying it can’t happen but the odds are not looking very good for her anymore lol."

In a way, I think Nicole S had a better chance of winning the Tony had the show transferred this past crowded season but who knows. 

[fosterfan2]

Posted: 5/29/24 at 6:04pm

Playbill_Trash said: "Can’t wait to see North West as young Dainty June."

Hell no!

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 5/29/24 at 6:08pm

TaffyDavenport said: "But Ariana DeBose isn't Black."

Yes, she is, and she's also quite wrong for this role and (allegedly) attached to another musical revival from the same producer.

[BentleyB]

Posted: 5/29/24 at 6:10pm

Jordan Catalano said: "But we were promised LouisianaBayou Swamp Rose."

I had our NY apartment converted to an alligator pit so they could store her co-stars there. 

[TaffyDavenport]

Posted: 5/29/24 at 6:10pm

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "TaffyDavenport said: "But Ariana DeBose isn't Black."

Yes, she is, and she's also quite wrong for this role and (allegedly) attached to another musical revival from the same producer."

Right, sorry, Afro-Puerto Rican. 

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 5/29/24 at 6:12pm

Herbie would be a waste for Stokes's voice.

But Sterling K. Brown..

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 5/29/24 at 6:15pm

hearthemsing22 said: "Is it possible they'll have an alternate a la Bette in Hello Dolly!?"

Audra reduced to 7 shows a week in PORGY and did 7 a week for LADY DAY. My assumption is they are starting out with the hope she can do all 8, and if they have to reduce to 7 then they can cross that bridge as needed. But we'll know by 10am tomorrow if that is not the case since it will have to specify if she's not going to be on.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 5/29/24 at 6:21pm

All the suggestions of Louises in their mid to late 30s feel like quite a stretch. Yes, Audra is older than the real Rose (and different in some other ways too), but "Older Louise" is 19 when June runs away at the end of act 1, and there's not a huge time gap for act 2.

Laura Benanti was 28, Sandra Church was 22, Tammy Blanchard was 27.

It would be quite a different story for a 30-something-year-old to be singing Little Lamb and living in the shadow of her sister 30+ years into their vaudeville careers.

Danny Burstein or Jeremy Shamos or Robert Sean Leonard or David Hyde Pierce feel like the biggest type of "name" we should expect for Herbie, unless they're really going to surprise us. All would be great. It's not a hard role to do well. And if they're not using an entirely Black cast, that's one of the few roles that would textually make sense as a white man.

Updated On: 5/29/24 at 06:21 PM

[uncageg]

Posted: 5/29/24 at 6:22pm

SonofRobbieJ said: "When I think of the great stagings I've seen in my life, George C. Wolfe is responsible for three of them (Angels in America, The Wild Party, Caroline, or Change). And when I think of the stagings I regret missing, it's Jelly's Last Jam, Noise/Funk and Shuffle Along. I'm going to be a freaking lunatic at 10am tomorrow. Happy 50th birthday to ME!"

He is the only reason I would see this production. It is not my favorite show/score. And as much as I worship Patti, I didn't go to see her in it. Audra is a goddess and love her also, but it wasn't until I saw Wolfe attached that I thought I may just have to see it, if possible. But after seeing a comment here, I would die to see and hear Tonya Pinkins' performance and her "Rose's Turn".  But I don't think Audra would be doing this if she wasn't going to give us her all.

I was lucky enough to see Caroline, Noise/Funk and Shuffle along.

Happy 50th! Enjoy!