Bernadette Peters and Kim Cattrall to star in Kennedy Centers Follies - Page 5

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 8/27/10 at 4:54pm

I noticed that, too. Rialto Chatter says they've been cast but not signed. And would the BWW News Desk lie to us?

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 8/27/10 at 5:42pm

Yes, PRS, they would

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 8/27/10 at 5:49pm

Why, I'm shocked! Shocked, I tell you!

[othell]

Posted: 8/27/10 at 6:13pm

I just read a rumor that Ann Margaret has been signed, and that she has already made room for it on her schedule. Just a rumor on Twitter, and no details about her part.

[ljay889]

Posted: 8/27/10 at 6:17pm

Wow. Well she would clearly be Carlotta. A tad too old, but it's Ann-Margret!
Updated On: 8/27/10 at 06:17 PM

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 8/27/10 at 7:34pm

I actually think Ann-Margaret would be much more appropriate as Stella than she would be as Carlotta.

Updated On: 8/27/10 at 07:34 PM

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 8/27/10 at 7:40pm

I really hope they cast someone contemporary with Peters for Carlotta. City Center was right in casting someone like Christine Baranski in the role (a pity she was not good in it), as opposed to casting say Polly Bergen (who I'm sure was terrific but do we really need a Carlotta who actually has been through the Depression, etc? ).
I don't mind if Bernadette Peters has to sing the score differently than traditionally performed, I can only imagine the kind of haunting emotion she would bring to a complex piece like "Too Many Mornings," one of the best romantic songs ever written.

[ljay889]

Posted: 8/27/10 at 7:51pm

Ann-Margret was a sex kitten in her prime. I don't see their persona working for Stella at all.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 8/27/10 at 8:16pm

"I really hope they cast someone contemporary with Peters for Carlotta."

Look at it this way, Ann-Margret, who will be 70 by the time this production opens, would be 22 years older than Yvonne De Carlo was when she originated the role, at the age of 48. Bernadette, who will be 63, will be 19 years older than Dorothy Collins, who was 44 when Follies opened.

[sing_dance_love]

Posted: 8/27/10 at 8:36pm

I still just cannot get over the fact that Bernadette looks as radiant and youthful as she does...and she's 62, going on 63. Amazing.

In any case, I am so excited by these casting choices. I have such high hopes for this production. I'm sure it will be wonderful.

[theeatah]

Posted: 8/27/10 at 9:30pm

I think Ann-Margret would be interesting as Hattie. Judging by the text, Carlotta needn't be the only aging sex symbol (Doesn't Ben recall Hattie wearing a low-cut dress when he watched her sing many years before). I also think Broadway Baby would suit her voice more than I'm Still Here.

Cybill Shepherd - now there's an appropriate Carlotta for Peter's Sally and Catrall's Phyllis.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 8/27/10 at 9:31pm

While I'm a fan of a 50ish Carlotta, I don't think Ann-Margret is a bad choice at all, particularly with Peters as Sally. I just hope she doesn't sustain any injuries before the show, because when I saw her in Whorehouse several years ago she had just hurt her wrist. I'm assuming she was hopped up on painkillers, and while I give her props for being a trouper, her performance was simply... inexplicable.

[madbrian]

Posted: 8/27/10 at 11:08pm

I think Goldie Hawn might be an interesting Carlotta.

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 8/28/10 at 12:38am

theeatah, Cybill Shepherd was heavily pursued to play Carlotta in the Encores! production several years ago. Her deal fell apart fairly late in the game, which is when Christine Baranski came into the picture.

[theeatah]

Posted: 8/28/10 at 4:42pm

Somethingwicked, that's interesting. I imagine they'll have a better chance of getting Shepherd this time, if indeed she's on the list.

With Peters as Sally, I wonder if they've gone after Mandy Patinkin for Buddy?

[ljay889]

Posted: 8/28/10 at 5:20pm

Danny Burstein will be Buddy.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 8/28/10 at 7:46pm

Dear God,
Please don't allow Mandy Patinking to play either Ben or Buddy.

Love,
husk_charmer

[Brick]

Posted: 8/28/10 at 8:57pm

Can Ann Margaret sing well anymore? Her vocal performance wasn't exactly demanding nor impressive in the WHOREHOUSE a few years back. And the end of "I'm Still Here" ain't easy. Just ask Christine Baranski.

[ljay889]

Posted: 8/28/10 at 9:31pm

Well didn't Polly Bergen sing it in a slightly lower key?

[smartpenguin78]

Posted: 8/28/10 at 11:26pm

I am going to have to go to DC to see this. I'm very excited for another Follies extravaganza. Bernadette and Danny Burstein seem fantastic to me. I had no idea about Cattrall's credentials, but taking that into account she should be a fantastic Phyllis, which is good because she is my favorite character.

[inlovewithjerryherman]

Posted: 8/29/10 at 4:11am

Regardless of how this production in DC turns out, I think that if it eventually transfers to B'way, there would be no justice in the world if Lenora Nemetz did not get to play Carlotta.

She's just perfect for it now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wU99SpTYF_k

[Brick]

Posted: 8/29/10 at 11:28am

"Well didn't Polly Bergen sing it in a slightly lower key?"

True, ut she also sang the hell out of it.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 8/29/10 at 7:14pm

The Hattie humor that's largely gotten lost was that Ethel Shutta had the kind of "wisecracking tough-girl" persona that was popular in the 1930s and early 40s, with with performers like Joan Blondell Barbara Stanwyck and Martha Raye and "Baby" Rose Marie, the wisecracking tough-girl child star who probably most inspired the song. (As an adult, she was the same wisecracking Rose Marie of the Dick Van Dyke Show.)

So when Ben tells Hattie she looked pretty in the low-cut dress, it's both a nice compliment to an older woman from a dashing and still somewhat young man and also an acknowledgment that many of the "tough girls" were in real life attractive women taking on a butch character.

It would be nice to have a Hattie who had that butch quality, rather than Ann-Margret's aging sex-kitten quality. It gave a nice texture to the show.

I remember being obsessed with Ethel Shutta for a while.

[ljay889]

Posted: 8/29/10 at 7:18pm

PJ, do you approve of Margret as Carlotta?

[JOak]

Posted: 8/29/10 at 11:00pm

Barbara Cook for Heidi please.