Can you imagine if BWW message boards were around when...

[jpbran]

Posted: 10/29/09 at 11:38am

...the Miss Saigon casting controversy was going on?

...the Company cast recording documentary was released?

...Les Mis opened?

...Lion King beat Ragtime?

...Cabaret film was released missing most of the shows songs?

What other past events would have resulted in the MULTI page bitch-fest threads that some things seem to trigger today?

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/29/09 at 11:45am

Lani Kazan being fired out of town and replaced by her best friend Michele Lee for "Seesaw."

Big film star, Jean Arthur, being fired out of town as Billie Dawn in "Born Yesterday" and being replaced by newcomer Judy Holliday.

All the Ethel Merman stage-door experiences. And how she stopped a show and threw a guy out of the theatre during "Call Me Madam."

When the two leading actors in the original Broadway production of "The Crucible" switched roles after the show had already opened.

Show Boat's casting of a white woman as Julie Laverne, in a role that is all about mixed race. The use of the "N" word in the original opening number lyrics, which has never been used since.

[bwaylvsong]

Posted: 10/29/09 at 11:46am

When Mary Martin won the Tony over Ethel Merman.

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/29/09 at 11:48am

When Music Man beat out West Side Story.


When The Sound of Music AND Fiorello! tied for best musical ... beating out a third-place (at best) "Gypsy."

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 10/29/09 at 11:55am

for some reason the only thing I can think of is The Baker's Wife debacle. For some reason I can imagine that being a show people would follow, saying it was going to be such a big hit.

oh, and when Audrey Hepburn was cast in My Fair Lady over Julie Andrews. I think there would've been some massive multi-page threads on that.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 10/29/09 at 12:06pm

While most of these are currently discussed, I would have LOVED to have viewed the initial reactions as they occurred:

Side Show double nomination of Alice & Emily and all of Side Show's subsequent Tony losses.

The Titanic tryout period through the Tony awards.

Carrie.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 10/29/09 at 12:07pm

I vaguely remember some of these discussions happening on ATC and the PBOL message boards. I don't remember specifics, though.

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/29/09 at 12:08pm

I'll bet we would have found out who was dubbed and who wasn't, back in the day. We all would have heard the name "Marni Nixon" a lot sooner.

How about when the Broadway hit Brigadoon was bought by MGM and cast with dancing stars Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse (dubbed) in the singing roles of Tommy and Fiona?

Or when Channing beat out Streisand for the Best Actress Tony?

Or when ALL of the songs were dropped except "Night and Day" from Cole Porter's film version of "The Gay Divorce" and the name was changed to "The Gay Divorcee?"

Or when ALL of the songs were stripped away and used only as underscoring in the non-musical film adaptation of the musical "Fanny?"

[James885]

Posted: 10/29/09 at 12:09pm

The first one that came to mind was the Sunset Boulevard debacle when Patti LuPone and Faye Dunaway were fired from their respective productions and sued Andrew Lloyd Webber.

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 10/29/09 at 12:11pm

When Madeline Kahn was replaced by understudy Judy Kaye in On the Twentieth Century.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 10/29/09 at 12:14pm

The Ragtime/Lion King Best Musical discussion definitely took place on ATC. I remember the endless arguments.

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 10/29/09 at 12:17pm

La Cage beating Sunday in the Park with George for several Tonys. Especially Jerry Herman's comment about the hummable showtune.

Patti LuPone's alleged reaction to Joanna Gleason winning the Tony for Into the Woods.

[jpbran]

Posted: 10/29/09 at 12:36pm

I'd forgotten about Carrie... wow. The boards would have been aflame. Probably would have helped grosses too!

Can you imagine the stink if someone "leaked" the info about vocal dubbing for major actresses in big Hollywood adaptations? From what I gather, the general public really wasn't aware of the goings on with My Fair Lady, West Side Story, etc.

[Justin D]

Posted: 10/29/09 at 12:49pm

When Cats opened and later won the Tony

[James885]

Posted: 10/29/09 at 12:55pm

When Moose Murders opened and closed in one night.

[B3TA07]

Posted: 10/29/09 at 2:11pm

Ragtime vs. Lion King was my first thought, also.

[Justin D]

Posted: 10/29/09 at 2:15pm

Well as the only die hard Lion King fan on this board I didn't have a problem with the Ragtime decision, lol,

[B3TA07]

Posted: 10/29/09 at 2:21pm

Ok.

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 10/29/09 at 2:22pm

All of these topics have been discussed ad nauseum anyway...bww has us catching up on our old arguments all the time.

[thejcm]

Posted: 10/29/09 at 2:30pm

...Ethel Merman and Carol Channing were not cast in the film versions of their most famous roles.

...Jennifer Holliday started missing all of those performances of Dreamirls.

...Liza filled in for Gwen Verdon in Chicago.

And not necessarily BWW, but BwaySecrets: if it were around back i the 50's/60's, Mary Martin would have been the Kendra Kassebaum of the day.

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 10/29/09 at 2:46pm

Best 12 Bars, just a niggling point, but Cole Porter's show on Broadway was called "Gay Divorce," not "The Gay Divorce," as has often been assumed. By putting the word "The" in the title, it makes it sound like a modified noun; without the "The," "Gay" seems to connate an adjectival interpretation, which, knowing Mr. Porter's wicked sense of humor, is more in keeping. IMO. And, of course, Hollywood really took the punch out of it by renaming in "The Gay Divorcee." Nothing earthshattering. I'd love to see Encores! do the Broadway version

[madbrian]

Posted: 10/29/09 at 2:46pm

...when Annie (Granny) Get Your Gun was revived with Merman.

...when Streisand 'stole' movie roles that should have gone to Channing and Harris.

...when the movie version of A Chorus Line was made.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/29/09 at 3:00pm

...Follies opened.

I was 15 and no one at my high school understood why I was so obsessed by it.

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 10/29/09 at 3:00pm

When:

Streetcar Named Desire lost the Tony to Mister Roberts for Best Play;
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof lost the Tony to The Deperate Hours for Best Play;
Elizabeth Taylor was cast in Virginia Woolf;
The Iceman Commeth lost the Best Revival Tony to Death of a Salesman;
Sweet Bird of Youth and/or Raisin in the Sun lost out Best Tony to J.B.;
Ethel Merman lost Best Musical Actress for Gypsy to Mary Martin for Sound of Music (40 years later, it's still being discussed);
The dreadful movie versions of Paint Your Wagon; Chorus Line, Rent, The Producers and Phantom of the Opera;
Bette Davis walked out of Night of the Iguana;
Tallulah Bankhead did revival of Streetcar Named Desire;
Anything about Carrie or Moose Murders; and
Dolores Gray slugged Michael Kidd during rehearsals of Destry Rides Again.

The list goes on and on.

Updated On: 10/29/09 at 03:00 PM

[madbrian]

Posted: 10/29/09 at 3:05pm

...when Lucy was cast as Mame.