BOMB-O-KINGS
BOMB-O-KINGS
Marquise
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/1/04
#2re: BOMB-O-KINGS
Posted: 6/24/05 at 9:08amBeing a long-standing fan of the book and movie, I am still optimistic towards the show. I hope it does well.
nmartin
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/3/05
#3re: BOMB-O-KINGS
Posted: 6/24/05 at 9:27am"They're bringing in Tommy Tune. He writes lyrics." Forget about having Riedel drawn and quartered. Do it to whoever said that.
CJR
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/14/03
#4re: BOMB-O-KINGS
Posted: 6/24/05 at 11:04amI don't like Reidel to begin with...... having nothing to do with any personal ties to the show, I refuse to read that just on principle!
"You're every gay man's wet dream!" ~ MA
If in Heaven you don't excel, you can always party down in hell...
#6re: BOMB-O-KINGS
Posted: 6/24/05 at 11:17amThe cast didn't know who Tommy Tune was? They thought he wrote lyrics? I find that hard to believe.
jim coleman
Stand-by Joined: 1/10/05
#7re: BOMB-O-KINGS
Posted: 6/24/05 at 11:20ami have a friend who is a stage manager with the show, and he says the article is the truth! I am seeing the show tonight. I know that Reidel can be ruthless, but this time he very well may be telling the truth.
BatonMan
#8re: BOMB-O-KINGS
Posted: 6/24/05 at 11:22am
"If he can't fix "The Mambo Kings," the critics will hang it around his neck like a millstone and he'll sink with it to the bottom of the Broadway pond."
Because he'd be the first director with a flop? Please...
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
#9re: BOMB-O-KINGS
Posted: 6/24/05 at 11:29amAnd her refers to Brown and Ives as the B-team. That's insulting and untrue.
#10re: BOMB-O-KINGS
Posted: 6/24/05 at 11:32amI am disgusted that these young performers don't have the tiniest bit of theater knowledge. To not know who Tommy Tune is??? Shame.
Have I ever shown you my Shattered Dreams box? It's in my Disappointment Closet. - Marge Simpson
robbiej
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
#11re: BOMB-O-KINGS
Posted: 6/24/05 at 11:35am
Oh Rath...have you ever spoken to a chorus boy. I've had more stimulating coversations with a box of cereal.
Yes it's a joke. Get your dance belt out of that twist, you nelly bitches!
"I'm so looking forward to a time when all the Reagan Democrats are dead."
#12re: BOMB-O-KINGS
Posted: 6/24/05 at 11:38am
robbie, you know you're not joking. 
Have I ever shown you my Shattered Dreams box? It's in my Disappointment Closet. - Marge Simpson
#13re: BOMB-O-KINGS
Posted: 6/24/05 at 11:39amchorus boy, circuit boy - same thing, right?
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
robbiej
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
#14re: BOMB-O-KINGS
Posted: 6/24/05 at 11:59amThe only difference? The glow sticks.
"I'm so looking forward to a time when all the Reagan Democrats are dead."
MargoChanning
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/5/04
#16re: BOMB-O-KINGS
Posted: 6/24/05 at 3:23pmA $15 million budget? For Mambo Kings? That's CRAZY.
"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie
[http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/]
"The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney
#18re: BOMB-O-KINGS
Posted: 6/24/05 at 7:02pm
"Oh Rath...have you ever spoken to a chorus boy. I've had more stimulating coversations with a box of cereal."
FYI - They just play dumb like Jessica Simpson. It's an act!
"I'm learning to dig deep down inside and find the truth within myself and put that out. I think what we identify with in popular music more than anything else is when someone just shares a truth that we can relate to. That's what I'm searching for in my music." - Ron Bohmer
"I broke the boundaries. It wasn't cool to be in plays- especially if you were in sports & I was in both." - Ashton Kutcher
"I broke the boundaries. It wasn't cool to be in plays- especially if you were in sports & I was in both." - Ashton Kutcher
#19re: BOMB-O-KINGS
Posted: 6/24/05 at 10:01pmCan someone please cut and paste the article? I'm not a subscriber to the NY Post. Thanks!
#20re: BOMB-O-KINGS
Posted: 6/24/05 at 10:03pm
BOMB-O-KINGS
by Michael Riedel
"June 24, 2005 -- IT'S a Latino-themed musical with a huge budget and a host of problems. The cre ator has a big ego but no stage experience. And he's been sidelined by a new creative team, including a director named Jerry.
Theater insiders are wondering: Have Broadway producers Daryl Roth and her son Jordan bought themselves a "Capeman"?
The parallels between that infamous Paul Simon flop and "The Mambo Kings," the Roths' flop-in-the making, are eerie.
Back in 1998, Simon, a stage novice, aimed to reinvent the Broadway musical with his show about Sal Agron, the notorious Puerto Rican street-gang leader who murdered two teenagers in 1959.
But the show floundered in previews, and Simon was forced to turn it over to veteran director Jerry Zaks.
Zaks did what he could, but "The Capeman" ran just three months, closing at a loss of $11 million.
"The Mambo Kings" is certainly lighter in spirit than "The Capeman" — it's about a pair of Cuban brothers who come to the States to break into showbiz — but it's been plagued by "Capeman"-like problems.
For one thing, Arne Glimcher, its director, book writer and lyricist, has, like Simon, zero stage experience.
His ineptness is a big reason why the $12 million show is in serious trouble.
His direction lacks theatrical flair and his book is static and confusing, according to people involved in the show.
For two weeks now, the Roths have been hunting for a directing and writing team to replace him.
Tommy Tune and composer Maury Yeston topped the list, but after seeing the show in San Francisco, they passed.
(Note to Tune: You've been away from Broadway too long. Many of the kids in "The Mambo Kings" have never heard of you. "They're bringing in Tommy Tune," one said. "He writes lyrics.")
But the Roths have lined up a B-team: playwright David Ives, who blows the cobwebs off old musicals for Encores!, and composer Jason Robert Brown, whose show-doctoring experience consists of trying to fix "Urban Cowboy."
For a director, they're negotiating with a Jerry.
But this time it's a Mitchell, not a Zaks (he turned them down).
Mitchell, the choreographer of "Hairspray" and "The Full Monty," has yet to direct a Broadway musical.
But earlier this month, he won the Tony for his choreography for "La Cage aux Folles."
As of yesterday, Mitchell was on the fence.
People close to him say he thinks "The Mambo Kings" needs a lot of work.
He's also reluctant to put his name on what could turn out to be one of the costliest flops in Broadway history.
If he can't fix "The Mambo Kings," the critics will hang it around his neck like a millstone and he'll sink with it to the bottom of the Broadway pond.
The Roths are going to extraordinary lengths to get him. They're even willing, I'm told, to let him work on the show for three weeks before making the decision to open at the Broadway Theater.
It's a good thing the Roths are billionaires — Daryl's husband, Steve, is a New York real estate kingpin — because this is going to cost them.
The Shuberts, who own the Broadway, are likely to demand a substantial amount of money to hold the theater in limbo (they could put another musical, "The Color Purple," in there in a minute).
That, plus the costs of the delay and the new creative team, will push the pricetag of "The Mambo Kings" to $15 million.
If you live in a building owned by the Roths, don't be surprised if the rent goes up.
LOOKS like the wonderful "Billy Elliot" will indeed open on Broadway next season. Director Stephen Daldry is in town this week looking at theaters.
* Due to James Earl Jones' bout of pneumonia, "On Golden Pond" will close on Sunday after 19 previews and 93 regular performances
* Don't miss: "Little Mary," William S. Leavengood's haunting new play about tensions in the Catholic Church. It's at the Sanford Meisner Theater and features a fine performance by Ron Orbach as a politically progressive archbishop."
#21re: BOMB-O-KINGS
Posted: 6/24/05 at 10:16pmPhantom2 - it's not an act.
Have I ever shown you my Shattered Dreams box? It's in my Disappointment Closet. - Marge Simpson
#22re: BOMB-O-KINGS
Posted: 6/24/05 at 11:03pmI think they need more than a few weeks to fix this show. All the leads (except Christiane Noll) are vocally weak. If they can somehow get Raul to break his Chitty contract and take over from Esai Morales- that would be a good start!
"It does what a musical is supposed to do; it takes you to another world. And it gives you a little tune to carry in your head. Something to take you away from the dreary horrors of the real world. A little something for when you're feeling blue. You know?"
aegeusrocks
Featured Actor Joined: 3/20/05
#23re: BOMB-O-KINGS
Posted: 6/25/05 at 12:13amWell, hopefully they will be taking much more than a few weeks to fix it....but honestly, Riedel calling Ives and Brown a B-team? That's entirely uncalled for and unprofessional of him. Ives has written some amazing plays and hopefully he can transfer his brilliance to revising Mambo Kings' book. And so what if Brown has only revised one work? Revised, in this case, could mean he'll entirely revamp the music for all we know. Has Riedel ever listened to Parade, or even Songs for a New World? That man has no idea what he's talking about.
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