I can't really blame her...good as she might have been in it, it would be yet another comparison to Chita, and anecdotally I know there are a lot of agents cautioning their clients on which projects to take if a show is solely relying on their star power to sell. Agents don't want their clients to be the face of a financial disaster that closes after 5 months. At best, Ariana's box office power is unknown (but I don't think anything close to a Groban or Radcliffe).
I can't really blame her...good as she might have been in it, it would be yet another comparison to Chita, and anecdotally I know there are a lot of agents cautioning their clients on which projects to take if a show is solely relying on their star power to sell. Agents don't want their clients to be the face of a financial disaster that closes after 5 months. At best, Ariana's box office power is unknown (but I don't think anything close to a Groban or Radcliffe)."
I think we know Ariana's box office power - and it is non-existent. Nothing against her but no one knows who she is outside the broadway community. Tourists have no idea who she is and she is not well liked in the broadway community so I don't think she would sell many tickets.
Blankenbuehler announced on the Broadway Cruise today that this is happening next year and that “you’ll know” whoever is starring. For whatever that’s worth.
This season is over crowded. Thank god it didn’t happen, next year sounds good.
"You can't overrate Bernadette Peters. She is such a genius. There's a moment in "Too Many Mornings" and Bernadette doing 'I wore green the last time' - It's a voice that is just already given up - it is so sorrowful. Tragic. You can see from that moment the show is going to be headed into such dark territory and it hinges on this tiny throwaway moment of the voice." - Ben Brantley (2022)
"Bernadette's whole, stunning performance [as Rose in Gypsy] galvanized the actors capable of letting loose with her. Bernadette's Rose did take its rightful place, but too late, and unseen by too many who should have seen it" Arthur Laurents (2009)
"Sondheim's own favorite star performances? [Bernadette] Peters in ''Sunday in the Park,'' Lansbury in ''Sweeney Todd'' and ''obviously, Ethel was thrilling in 'Gypsy.'' Nytimes, 2000