Cook to Star in iSondheim for Roundabout?

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 4/24/09 at 8:03am

According to Michael Reidel in The Post:

"The new Stephen Sondheim show with the title that makes me cringe -- "iSondheim" -- has been salvaged from the recession.

The show, fashioned around several on-camera interviews with the legendary songwriter about his life and work, was supposed to have had a pre-Broadway tryout in Atlanta this summer. But it was scrapped when the producers couldn't raise the $4 million capitalization.

Enter the Roundabout Theatre Company, which, given the critical drubbing it's taken this year for misfires such as "Pal Joey," could certainly use a winner.

The theater has picked up "iSondheim" and will produce it next year on Broadway, very possibly with Barbara Cook as the headliner..."

http://www.nypost.com/seven/04242009/entertainment/theater/cook_could_be_key_ingredient_for_isondhe_165862.htm

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 4/24/09 at 10:31am

I've never heard of bad feelings between Cook and Stritch, Cook actually tells a story in her act about Stritch as if they are good friends.
Anything that gets Cook back on Broadway is Gold in my eyes.

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 4/24/09 at 10:40am

I wasn't aware of any hard feelings between Stritch and Cook. Anyone know what Riedel was talking about?

[jennyish]

Posted: 4/24/09 at 11:12am

iSondheim?

Do not like.

[dreaming]

Posted: 4/24/09 at 11:17am

Don't love the title but I hope Cook comes to Broadway. I've always wanted to see her. Love her on the recordings of "She Loves Me" and "The Music Man" and love her recording of "Glitter and Be Gay" from "Candide". So I hope she can make it to Broadway and I can see her live finally.

[uncageg]

Posted: 4/24/09 at 11:52am

I haven't been following it but wasn't Roundabout thinking about doing Merrily We Roll Along next season?

[ljay889]

Posted: 4/24/09 at 12:17pm

MERRILY fell through.

This is pretty exciting!

[jv92]

Posted: 4/24/09 at 12:52pm

I've never heard of a Barbara-Stritch feud. But I can't wait for this, or Barbara's concert with the NY Phil next month!

[madbrian]

Posted: 4/24/09 at 12:57pm

It will be interesting to see if she (and her voice) are up to the rigors of 8 shows a week. She hasn't done it since the early 1970s.

[heathurr2]

Posted: 4/24/09 at 1:28pm

Merrily fell through?? NOOO! That just crushed me.

Anyway, I saw this earlier and flipped. Very exciting! If it happens I will definitely make a trip to NY just to see it.
Still hate the title though.

[Chrysanthemum62001]

Posted: 4/24/09 at 1:52pm

What? I had my heart set on Raul Esparza and Michael Cerveris in Merrily!

Well, I've heard about the concept cause they were gonna do it in Atlanta at the Alliance. It's a revue, and I'm pretty sure Aaron Lazaar had something to do with it a while back.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 4/24/09 at 2:10pm

I had my heart set on Raul Esparza and Michael Cerveris in Merrily!

Really? I cannot see them in that show AT ALL. Might as well throw in Patti, Audra and Nathan, if that's the case.

I just can't can't get excited about this iSondheim thing. Sounds something like Side By Side By Sondheim 2. I love Sondheim, but I've been so burned out on the concerts, revivals, benefits and regional/amateur productions of the same shows over and over (many of which featuring the same actors over and over). And the Gold Bounce Show being bandied about the country in various incarnations like some sort of Sondheim badminton match. If it's not a new work, I think I'll give myself a Sondheim break for a while. I've been so inundated with the works of Sondheim, they have started to lose their special quality to me and have become something of a Broadway Top 40 radio program that plays the same tunes every season.

[ratherbewhaling]

Posted: 4/24/09 at 2:27pm

Raul was already in the show at the Kennedy center and he was great in it.

Updated On: 4/24/09 at 02:27 PM

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 4/24/09 at 2:48pm

Yeah, I knew he was in the show 7 years ago and I wasn't terribly keen on the casting choice then (and less keen on the idea since I've seen him in Company), but doing it now with Cerveris, I just don't think they are the best choices for those two roles.

[jewishboy]

Posted: 4/24/09 at 3:31pm

I heard they had a falling out some time before the concert they did together (after Stritch appeared as a guest at Cook's concert at the MET).

[PiraguaGuy2]

Posted: 4/24/09 at 3:38pm

Can Roundabout just do Merrily instead?

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 4/24/09 at 4:36pm

Merrily might cost more to mount than 4 million. Maybe they're just going with the cheaper of the two.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 4/25/09 at 1:10am

I love how they just assume this will be a critical & audience hit.