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Audra to sing the blues on Broadway...? — Page 2

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#26

Audra to sing the blues on Broadway...?

Posted: 2/25/14 at 2:41pm

Can someone clarify for me why we are assuming it will be a play? When this show first premiered off Broadway, it was considered a musical for awards (Lonette McKee was nominated for the Drama Desk for Best Actress in a Musical, and I believe it won the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Book of a Musical). Who knows whether the producers will petition it to be considered a play, but the Tony committee could very well go with precedence and consider it a musical.
Nothing matters but knowing nothing matters. ~ Wicked
Everything in life is only for now. ~ Avenue Q
There is no future, there is no past. I live this moment as my last. ~ Rent

"He's a tramp, but I love him."
#29

Audra to sing the blues on Broadway...?

Posted: 2/25/14 at 2:47pm

It also sounds very similar to END OF THE RAINBOW, but in this specific case, it has been considered and judged as a musical before. I could easily see the Tony committee going either way, so I'm just wondering why everyone here is so confident it will be a play.
Nothing matters but knowing nothing matters. ~ Wicked
Everything in life is only for now. ~ Avenue Q
There is no future, there is no past. I live this moment as my last. ~ Rent

"He's a tramp, but I love him."
#30

Audra to sing the blues on Broadway...?

Posted: 2/25/14 at 2:49pm

I realize Audra's an actor--and a talented one at that--but aside from being African American and female, nothing about her screams "Billie Holliday" to me.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe." -John Guare, Landscape of the Body
#36

Audra to sing the blues on Broadway...?

Posted: 2/25/14 at 3:06pm

The Times said that too.
Nothing matters but knowing nothing matters. ~ Wicked
Everything in life is only for now. ~ Avenue Q
There is no future, there is no past. I live this moment as my last. ~ Rent

"He's a tramp, but I love him."
#37

Audra to sing the blues on Broadway...?

Posted: 2/25/14 at 3:11pm

I feel like the "Schedule Announced" part of that release is strange. Maybe it's just me.
#39

Audra to sing the blues on Broadway...?

Posted: 2/25/14 at 3:29pm

"Raul Esparza has also been nominated in all 4 acting categories at the Tonys, but I think he and Boyd Gaines are the only two." Thanks Simplymarvelous, I had forgotten about Raul.
#40

Audra to sing the blues on Broadway...?

Posted: 2/25/14 at 3:34pm

The press release calls it a "musical play." I'd assume that means they're going to try to petition it as a play? Whether or not they're allowed to remains to be seen. Haha.
#41

Audra to sing the blues on Broadway...?

Posted: 2/25/14 at 3:39pm

I thought my "to-do" list for the Spring was finalized, but I guess not. I'm very excited for this.
#42

Audra to sing the blues on Broadway...?

Posted: 2/25/14 at 3:44pm

I realize Audra's an actor--and a talented one at that--but aside from being African American and female, nothing about her screams "Billie Holliday" to me.

The same thing was said of Diana Ross when she made LADY SINGS THE BLUES.

She received an Oscar nomination.


#43

Audra to sing the blues on Broadway...?

Posted: 2/25/14 at 4:04pm

Does anyone know the play well enough to know how many songs it includes? Any chance it will lead to a recording as End of the Rainbow did?
#44

Audra to sing the blues on Broadway...?

Posted: 2/25/14 at 4:23pm

The Times article said she will perform 18 songs.
Nothing matters but knowing nothing matters. ~ Wicked
Everything in life is only for now. ~ Avenue Q
There is no future, there is no past. I live this moment as my last. ~ Rent

"He's a tramp, but I love him."
#45

Audra to sing the blues on Broadway...?

Posted: 2/25/14 at 4:27pm

I am hoping the Tony committee considers it a musical. It will make the race for Leading Actress that much more exciting.
#46

Audra to sing the blues on Broadway...?

Posted: 2/25/14 at 4:39pm

I'm willing to be wrong about this, and I'm still going to go to give it a fair shot, but I'm not a fan of this casting as of now. To be honest, I'm not all that crazy about Audra's voice when she's not singing legit soprano. I don't like her voice on the Dreamgirls concert recording at all. She's a very talented woman no doubt, but I have my reservations.





Updated On: 2/25/14 at 04:39 PM

#47

Audra to sing the blues on Broadway...?

Posted: 2/25/14 at 4:48pm

Not to gear this thread off topic but since Visceral_Fella did bring it up, I also am not a fan of Audra's voice on the DREAMGIRLS IN CONCERT recording. Her voice was just all wrong for that character and that score.
#48

Audra to sing the blues on Broadway...?

Posted: 2/25/14 at 4:52pm

I'm really excited for what they'll do with the Circle in the Square for this one. The show subject and venue selection seem to suggest the potential for a really great immersive, pub/cabaret atmosphere. I hope the creative team is thinking the same thing! Given that there has already been discussion about table seating and on-stage options, I think they may be.

Count me as someone who is genuinely confused now on both questions: is this a musical or play and is it a revival or is it new? I'm well aware of the classics rule but this seems like they've reworked or even entirely redone the off-Broadway version? When I first heard about it I was also under the impression it would be considered a play with music, but if it's including 18 songs, granted probably not 18 complete songs, I'd be hard-pressed to see how that isn't a musical.

I'm also now confused. I thought A Night with Janis Joplin was ruled a musical?
Scratch and claw for every day you're worth! Make them drag you screaming from life, keep dreaming You'll live forever here on earth.
#49

Audra to sing the blues on Broadway...?

Posted: 2/25/14 at 5:18pm

I'm well aware of the classics rule but this seems like they've reworked or even entirely redone the off-Broadway version?

I don't understand why you got that impression. From everything I've read, it looks like a revival (first time on Broadway) of the 1986 off-Broadway musical by Lanie Robertson.

When people are saying that it's completely different than last year's off-Broadway play, they mean it is a completely different play. Last year's show was titled just LADY DAY and was written by Stephen Stahl.
Nothing matters but knowing nothing matters. ~ Wicked
Everything in life is only for now. ~ Avenue Q
There is no future, there is no past. I live this moment as my last. ~ Rent

"He's a tramp, but I love him."
#50

Audra to sing the blues on Broadway...?

Posted: 2/25/14 at 5:24pm

A Night with Janis Joplin IS considered a musical. And since this is a revival of a show that was also considered a musical, it seems a safe assumption it will be in that category.

Vocally, Audra really is a bizarre match for Holliday, but damned if I don't fully intend to buy a ticket!

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