Did Anyone See the Final Performance of Wonderful Town Today?

theres a thread about this on ATC....Gregg made a statement about how the show should have closed long ago and thanked Brooke for coming in. Brooke thanked Donna Murphy, which nobody liked. then she thanked Linda Mugleston and the audience cheered.

It's really sad that no one cares about this.

The ATC board has a wonderful long post about it.

---

At least Linda Mugleston got some recognition. That woman should win the Understudy/Replacement When The Star Bails on Her Show Tony Award.

The review on ATC is great! All the people that knock Brooke can KISS MY ASS. Brooke really is a class act. What a lovely lady. The show will be missed, but Brookes performance will be remembered.

Now all I can do is look foward to Brooke in Chicago, and hope that the Weisslers invite to perform with the Broadway company. Which I have no doubt they will.


Priest, yes Donna might've had some issues, we don't know the facts. BUT SHE STILL ABANDONED THE PRODUCTION. That is a FACT.

Updated On: 1/30/05 at 09:41 PM

Well, then I guess we can all just start knocking Michael Crawford for "abandoning the production" of The Woman in White.
I guess all theatre stars should have some sort of special immune system that is superhuman.

---

This was a fun show. Not one of my favorites, but it's sad when stuff closes.

---

I completely agree with Joshua.

Donna just didn't miss a couple straight weeks. She missed DOZENS of performances. One week you're not going to be sick, than two weeks later a death in the family, a month later you are sick again, a week later you break your leg.. than a month later you're still now in the show. It doesn't work like that. (Those are examples, not saying any of those things really happened to Donna, using it to prove my point).

I just think Donna got lazy, and since she is "Donna Murphy", she can miss months of performances. Now, don't get me wrong at all. I think Donna is EXTREMELY talented, a real real talent. Just her missing all the WT performances was uncalled for, without any good exuses.

Updated On: 1/30/05 at 10:07 PM

The Priest never fails to make me laugh..

I attended the final performance today, and I must say how wonderful it was to see the show close to a nearly full house. I arrived at the theatre early to take picutes and many cast members were out videotaping and taking pictures and having a good time. One even remarked how great it was that the line to get into the theatre went around the block. The show was great, both Brooke and Jennifer got lots of entrance applause. Most of the audience members around me were unaware that it was the last day and talking about bringing their families. Sad. Anyway, the show was fantasic. Jennifer and Brooke both started to cry during "Wrong Note Rag" which got an extremly long applause. And in the reprise of "It's Love" they were both struggling to get out the words from the tears. Gregg gave a curtain speech as mentioned before Brooke thanked Donna for bringing attention to the show. It was wonderful when she thanked Linda, the whole cast started cheering and it was awesome. That's all I can really think of right now, I was crying through much of the curtain speech, because I am a goober who saw the show 11 times and will miss it.

::spaz::
Final night??
woooah where have I been??

---

Thank you, Priest. Thank you, Ellie.

I wasn't going to reply to this thread, but, as it has degenerated to a 'let's bag Donna once more' thread, I can't help myself.

Yes, Ms Murphy had a legitimate reason for those absences. She had major problems with her vocal cords from the early days of the run. The longer the run went, the worse the cords. There were weeks where she was on enforced silence - not just for performances. So, was the problem career-threatening? The answer is, perhaps. I am sure that nobody would want her to risk an entire career . I don't believe that she put her show at risk with any glee. When she did perform, she gave it her all. I defy anyone who saw her in 'Conga' to suggest that she wasn't putting in. After all the show would not have been revived if not for Donna. As the show had such a short lead-in time and little advance, it is likely that Wonderful Town would not have been able to run at all without her initial rave reviews. As she was the only name above the title, I can only imagine the pressure that must have been on her.

Ms. Murphy may be fragile but she is a thorough professional. She did speak up about her problem in June. I am not privy to any reason for not speaking since. I cannot say what happened in September, either. But, thanks to a mutual friend, I can assure you that Ms. Murphy's physical problems were very real.

---