Betty Buckley "DOLLY" opening in Cleveland/ Casting News ?- Page 14

[dmwnc1959]

Posted: 10/19/18 at 6:17pm

sbflyfan said: "You're right... I forgot about that dialogue. I think I'm confusing it with another production I saw. I'm also not used to "Penny In My Pocket" starting act 2.

Thanks for clarifying! :)"

 

You’re welcome! That’s pretty much exactly the way it happened when I saw the two shows in Cleveland as well as the two on Broadway. And “Penny In My Pocket” started Act 2 on both the Broadway and the National Tour shows. It was also at the Tony Awards sung by David Hyde Pierce. Not my favorite song of the OBCR, but it’ll do.

Updated On: 10/19/18 at 06:17 PM

[Dollypop]

Posted: 10/19/18 at 7:02pm

dmwnc1959 said: "DAME said: "Aren't we lucky we have gotten so many different Dolly's?"



Depending on one’s timing and abilities they could have seen Bette, Bernadette, Donna, and Betty. All four of them inless than a threemonth time span."

I was able to see all three great ladies in a little more than one month.  Bernadette's last performance was July 15th and the show closed on August 25th.

[dmwnc1959]

Posted: 10/19/18 at 7:42pm

Dollypop said:“I was able to see all three great ladies in a little more than one month. Bernadette's last performance was July 15th and the show closed on August 25th."

I wish I had been able to see Donna Murphy. I have a cat at home that I really can’t leave for more than 36-40hrs, it gets lonely. My neighbor feeds it wet food several times while I’m gone, and it’s got plenty of dry food and water. Plus, I had already made two trips to Broadway to see Bernadette (May) and Bette (August), and it was beyond my budget for a third. But we’ll blame it on the cat anyways. :)

 

 

[Dollypop]

Posted: 10/19/18 at 7:55pm

Actually, I saw all three Dolly's in a span of 30 days. I forgot I did a double header on August 15th. I saw Bernadette's last 30 days earlier and a matinee or two with Donna in between--and I don't have a cat.

[Loopin’theloop]

Posted: 10/19/18 at 8:00pm

Regarding all the talk of Betty Buckley ‘settling’ into the role. I fear, this is it.

Acting is not about pretending, it’s about telling the true. One has to find the areas in which you and the character are the same and play them, that’s what makes it real. There are some actors who have the gift of seeming different, in every role but that’s not actually a necessary component. Bette Midler’s Dolly, was very close to Bette Midler, the only thing the audience needs is to believe the situations and reactions are true. At no point, did I not believe Midler. The same way I always believe Judi Dench, who you can see much of in all of her characters -this is what makes them real. The only responsibility the actors have is to make us believe that moment by moment, what happens on stage is real - it is not their job to while out memory of their persona, that’s impossible.

With Betty Buckley, unfortunately she can search for Dolly within her forever but I think she’s found the lot.

Buckley is not warm, she’s not kooky in the Dolly way, she’s not lovable and she’s not comedic. She is an extradarily gifted performer, a truly great talent but she does possess the qualities required to make Dolly really fly. And that is why some actors can pull of Dolly with three days rehearsal and others cannot.

‘you either got it or you aint’

[EthelMae]

Posted: 10/20/18 at 8:52pm

The great late Michael Jeter once answered an interviewer’s question: “Mr. Jeter, how do you get into such a character, a character who is ill living his last days at the Grand Hotel?...”
Mr. Jeter answered simply, “I pretend”.
An actor certainly has to find the truth, what they can relate to and what they can’t and there is certainly an amount of pretense involved.

Updated On: 10/20/18 at 08:52 PM

[EthelMae]

Posted: 10/20/18 at 9:01pm

I might also add that if Ms. Buckley possesses none of the qualities you list, are you saying the producer of the Broadway company, Scott Rubin and the director of the Broadway company, Jerry Zaks, were wrong in their offer of the role of Dolly to Ms. Buckley? An offer, not an audition. A year long National Tour? They must have confidence in her.

Updated On: 10/20/18 at 09:01 PM

[Skip23]

Posted: 10/20/18 at 9:03pm

Listen to Sir Ian:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DtlTeheCjk&t=14s

 

 

[JBC3]

Posted: 10/20/18 at 9:13pm

Loopin’theloop said: "Regarding all the talk of Betty Buckley ‘settling’ into the role. I fear, this is it. "

No it is not.

[Loopin’theloop]

Posted: 10/21/18 at 3:38am

EthelMae said: "I might also add that if Ms. Buckley possesses none of the qualities you list, are you saying the producer of the Broadway company, Scott Rubin and the director of the Broadway company, Jerry Zaks, were wrong in their offer of the role of Dolly to Ms.Buckley? An offer, not an audition. A year long National Tour? They must have confidence in her."

Producers and directors agent Gods. They don’t have divine powers, sometimes they make mistakes. There are plenty of examples of actors getting rules that they were ultimately miscast in and plenty of examples of actors who had their contracts terminated once they had begun, for that very reason. ‘They got the part so they must be good’ is as flawed as ‘they win an award, so they must be the best’

Ms Buckley’s not auditioning is no argument for her suitability to the role, if anything it shows that they had to simply take a punt and hope. Which is exactly how casting actors of a certain stature works. 

My assessment of her qualities is not opinion, it’s reality. She is cold and she isn’t gifted as a comic actor. That’s not to say that she won’t find her take on it on the role and be more successful than some of the people who not enjoyed her, have deemed her to be at present. She is enormously talented, so I hope so.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 10/21/18 at 3:54am

Loopin’theloop said: "Regarding all the talk of Betty Buckley ‘settling’ into the role. I fear, this is it.

Acting is not about pretending, it’s about telling the true. One has to find the areas in which you and the character are the same and play them, that’s what makes it real. There are some actors who have the gift of seeming different, in every role but that’s not actually a necessary component. Bette Midler’s Dolly, was very close to Bette Midler, the only thing the audience needs is to believe the situations and reactions are true. At no point, did I not believe Midler. The same way I always believe Judi Dench, who you can see much of in all of her characters -this is what makes them real. The only responsibility the actors have is to make us believe that moment by moment, what happens on stage is real - it is not their job to while out memory of their persona, that’s impossible.

With Betty Buckley, unfortunately she can search for Dolly within her forever but I think she’s found the lot.

Buckley is not warm, she’s not kooky in the Dolly way, she’s not lovable and she’s not comedic. She is an extradarily gifted performer, a truly great talent but she does possess the qualities required to make Dolly really fly. And that is why some actors can pull of Dolly with three days rehearsal and others cannot.

‘you either got it or you aint’"

Well put (even though I saw neither Midler nor Buckley in the role and have no comment on whether they were well cast). This is exactly why I have never understood the enthusiasm here for Patti LuPone as Dolly Levi. LuPone has a gorgeous instrument and, despite her awards, is IMHO actually underrated as an actress. But she is wrong for Dolly for many of the same reasons you say Buckley is wrong. Who would let LuPone meddle in the most intimate areas of their life?

[Loopin’theloop]

Posted: 10/21/18 at 11:48am

EthelMae said: "The great late Michael Jeter once answered an interviewer’squestion: “Mr. Jeter, how do you get into such a character, a character who is ill living his last days at the Grand Hotel?...”
Mr. Jeter answered simply, “I pretend”.
An actor certainly has to find the truth, what they can relate to and what they can’t and there is certainly an amount of pretense involved."

I don’t think anyone with any insight into acting would say otherwise. Of course pretending is involved. But the magic ‘if’ as many refer to it, is you must imagine how you might react in the imagined circumstances. You can’t fake an emotion, you can only access it. Just the same as cannot fake warthm. If you don’t have that quality, you don’t have it. Actors can only play action not quality. 

 

Old fashioned acting didn’t follow that thinking and that’s why it rings as untrue or ‘phoney’ 

 

Updated On: 10/21/18 at 11:48 AM

[EthelMae]

Posted: 10/21/18 at 3:59pm

Sorry to go on about this, BUT, Loopin’, have you seen Betty Buckley in Hello, Dolly!? If you have, fine.

Next, if, as you say, “pretending is involved in acting”, why do you say “acting is not about pretending”?

And, finally, “Actors can only play action not quality” and “that is why old fashioned acting rings untrue or phoney”, what period of time are you talking about? The “old-fashioness” of the 30’s, the 40’s, the 50’s? The acting styles of Davis, Crawford, Hepburn, Tracy, Colbert, Shearer, Stanwyck, Lorette Taylor, Raines, Booth, -they were phoney and untrue in their acting styles?

Dick Cavett: Is it possible that say African Queen or Summertine could now look dated? I can’t imagine they would. They seem so timeless and so right. For instance they say that clips of Duse look ludicrous now.

Katherine Hepburn: Who does it look ludicrous to? It may not look ludicrous to me.

Dick Cavett: Yeah, to you it wouldn’t look... you would see...

Katherine Hepburn: I mean some of the classics, the comedies, silent pictures are fascinating. And I would see her, Duse, and I mean you’re stupid if you’re influenced by a costume or if the mechanics of the thing weren’t up to today’s standards. 

Cavett Show, 1973

 

 

Updated On: 10/21/18 at 03:59 PM

[GeorgeandDot]

Posted: 10/21/18 at 4:15pm

Gaveston, Lupone has never played Dolly Levi, so I really don't understand what you're saying.

[ArtMan]

Posted: 10/21/18 at 5:08pm

He was speaking about the people who wanted her to play Dolly.  Gaveston, if I'm wrong, correct me.

[Loopin’theloop]

Posted: 10/21/18 at 5:32pm

EthelMae said: "Sorry to go on about this, BUT, Loopin’, have you seen Betty Buckley in Hello, Dolly!? If you have, fine.

Next, if, as you say, “pretending is involved in acting”, why do you say “acting is not about pretending”?

And, finally, “Actors can only play action not quality” and “that is why old fashionedacting rings untrue or phoney”, what period of time are you talking about? The “old-fashioness” of the 30’s, the 40’s, the 50’s? The acting styles of Davis, Crawford, Hepburn, Tracy, Colbert, Shearer, Stanwyck, Lorette Taylor, Raines, Booth, -they were phoney and untrue in their acting styles?

Dick Cavett: Is it possible that say African Queen or Summertine could now look dated? I can’t imagine they would. They seem so timeless and so right. For instance they say that clips of Duselook ludicrous now.

Katherine Hepburn: Who does it look ludicrous to? It may not look ludicrous to me.

Dick Cavett: Yeah, to you it wouldn’t look... you would see...

Katherine Hepburn: I mean some of the classics, the comedies, silent pictures are fascinating. AndI would see her, Duse,and I mean you’re stupid if you’re influenced by a costume or if the mechanics of the thing weren’t up to today’s standards.

Cavett Show, 1973



"

No, they are wonderful. And part of the reason is they knew how to use the relevant parts of themselves. Most of the people you mention here did not act in the typical old fashioned manner, many of them had studied acting techniques that we would consider ‘modern’

[Loopin’theloop]

Posted: 10/21/18 at 5:35pm

JBC3 said: "Loopin’theloop said: "Regarding all the talk of Betty Buckley ‘settling’ into the role. I fear, this is it. "

No it is not."

My crystal ball is on the fritz, good to know yours is working and you are able to confirm something even Buckley herself can’t at this stage.

[Miramar3]

Posted: 10/21/18 at 6:09pm

JBC3 said: "Loopin’theloop said: "Regarding all the talk of Betty Buckley ‘settling’ into the role. I fear, this is it. "

No it is not."

 

I absolutely agree with you, JBC3. 

Updated On: 10/21/18 at 06:09 PM

[Loopin’theloop]

Posted: 10/21/18 at 6:20pm

Miramar3 said: "JBC3 said: "Loopin’theloop said: "Regarding all the talk of Betty Buckley ?settling’ into the role. I fear, this is it. "

No it is not."



I absolutely agree with you, JBC3."

But it’s completely impossible to say so. I think Buckley is a supreme talent but my feeling is she isn’t go to grow much, it’s also impossible for me to have a definite answer on that. It would be foolish of me to say otherwise. I like her a lot, I love the production - I hope she does find her feet but nobody can say whether she will or won’t, unless they are a soothsayer.

[JBC3]

Posted: 10/21/18 at 6:47pm

^
And yet you have asserted she cannot/will not ad nauseam here ... shall we say looping back to the same point over and over and over again. Perhaps you have become loopy with your own argument. Better to stop and compare reviews again later in the run. Updated On: 10/21/18 at 06:47 PM

[Miramar3]

Posted: 10/21/18 at 6:57pm

Sorry if this brief interview has already been posted.  I've long known that Betty follows a rather strict diet and exercise regimen.  Interesting that she lost 31 pounds to play "Dolly".   That's  commitment!

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/theater/ct-ott-buckley-hello-dolly-jones-loop-1019-story.html 

[Loopin’theloop]

Posted: 10/22/18 at 4:38am

JBC3 said: "^
And yet you have asserted she cannot/will not ad nauseam here ... shall we say looping back to the same point over and over and over again. Perhaps you have become loopy with your own argument. Better to stop and compare reviews again later in the run."

No. I said ‘I fear this might be it’ it would be impossible not to mention arrogant for me to assume I am able to make a statement otherwise and why would I? It’s a chat board for conversation - what kind of conversation would ‘Betty Buckley can’t improve’ create, a fairy limited one I would imagine. 

The only thing I’m remarking on, with any sense of me saying this is fact not opening opinion - is acting technique and how actors work, that’s still an interesting conversation though.

[HappyintheStalls]

Posted: 10/23/18 at 7:01am

Enjoying this thread

Have seen Bette Bernadette Donna and Betty and all four gave generous and skilled performances as you would expect from Broadway legends

The production is sumptuous with lush orchestration glorious costumes and a talented company

The only performance you still have a chance to see is Betty and you should all run to see her The Voice of Broadway WHAT an opportunity She sings the heck out of a clever and complicated score Enjoy

 

[bryan2]

Posted: 10/23/18 at 8:34am

So tired of hearing Betty is cold , Betty has no warmth....blah blah.. was she cold in the Movie Carrie...was she cold on Eight is enough .. nope....she is an actress and a really great actress...(watch Split or Preacher) I think everyone seems to think of her as NORMA DESMOND.  She will be a great Dolly..different from the others as it should be...Look at the production picture of how happy and beautiful she looks,,,,not to mention that voice....

 

[Marlothom]

Posted: 10/24/18 at 12:27am

Saw this show tonight in Chicago, having seen this show in New York with Bette Midler and Donna Murphy (as well as a prior Broadway revival with Carol Channing many years ago).   Overall, I think this is great representation of the Broadway production to take across the country.  

My main disappointment was that the audience was just not into it.   There were A LOT of empty seats, in the ORCHESTRA(!), including most of the 6th row.  I snagged a seat in said row just before the show started.  I felt like I was leading the applause in places where the New York audience were very enthusiastic (Sunday Clothes, Dancing (dance break), the parade in Before the Parade Passes By, the Waiters Gallop)

Betty Buckley is a professional!  She does great in the role and I am glad I got to see her.  

The actor playing Barnaby is a very strong dancer.  I remember his season in So You Think You Can Dance.  He gets many more dance breaks, most notably the endless fouette turns in Dancing.  

The show, particularly the choreography, loses something when you don't have a real passarelle.  The leaps aren't as impressive when they are not done over the orchestra's head.  

The actor playing Horace is great and makes interesting choices but he just didn't feel like Betty's equal (as a leading player) the way Kelsey did.   

During intermission I had to listen to this horrible "Broadway in Chicago" regular talk about how much she HATED this production, how Betty sounded NOTHING like the "Cats" soundtrack she had recently listened to, how great Charley and the Chocolate Factory was (the week before) and how much she wanted to leave.  I had to really force myself not to turn around and tell her that Bette Midler didn't sing the score any better.  

Anyway - great show, see it when it gets to your town.  

 

Updated On: 10/24/18 at 12:27 AM