ENCORES ; MERRILY cast???

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ENCORES ; MERRILY cast???

Posted: 8/22/11 at 6:12pm

I hear final call-backs for the leads are this week,who would you like to see?
Anyone mentions goat-man gets 50 lashes.

ENCORES ; MERRILY cast???

Posted: 8/22/11 at 6:14pm

Raul Esparza!!!

Give me claws and a hunch, just away from this bunch.

ENCORES ; MERRILY cast???

Posted: 8/22/11 at 6:16pm

Frank: Colin Donnell
Charley: Euan Morton
Mary: Leslie Kritzer

"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe." -John Guare, Landscape of the Body

ENCORES ; MERRILY cast???

Posted: 8/22/11 at 6:16pm

Whhhippp!

That's one!

ENCORES ; MERRILY cast???

Posted: 8/22/11 at 6:24pm

Based on what she did in Sondheim on Sondheim, Kritzer should be a no-brainer. They ought to just offer it to her outright.

ENCORES ; MERRILY cast???

Posted: 8/22/11 at 6:37pm

I agree, Kritzer is pretty perfect.

ENCORES ; MERRILY cast???

Posted: 8/22/11 at 7:09pm

I have to agree. I would love to see Kritzer as Mary--I think she would bring a freshness and verve to Mary's scenes and songs.

ENCORES ; MERRILY cast???

Posted: 8/22/11 at 8:31pm

Frank: Raul Esparza
Charlie Evan Pappas
Mary: Kerry O'Malley
Beth: Kate Baldwin
Gussie: Emily Skinner

ENCORES ; MERRILY cast???

Posted: 8/22/11 at 9:15pm

Whhippp! That's two!

#10

ENCORES ; MERRILY cast???

Posted: 8/22/11 at 9:18pm

henrikegerman, in what world could any of those people convincingly play the characters in their younger years? They're all at least ten years too old for the show.

Aaron Lazar as Frank, Neil Patrick Harris as Charley, Leslie Kritzer as Mary, Christina Hendricks as Gussie, and Erin Mackey as Beth would be a dream.

Tonya Pinkins: Then we had a "Lot's Wife" last June that was my personal favorite. I'm still trying to get them to let me sing it at some performance where we get to sing an excerpt that's gone.
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.

Updated On: 8/22/11 at 09:18 PM

#11

ENCORES ; MERRILY cast???

Posted: 8/22/11 at 9:30pm

I honestly think Esparza could do it (he was believable as mid 20's in Arcadia) and I like the idea of him playing Frank since he has already done Charley. Lazar is a very interesting idea, but I don't know if I see him as a Frank type.

That said, Kritzer as Mary better happen, her take on the character in Sondheim on Sondheim was wonderful, and I'd like to see her take on the whole thing. I also really like the idea of Mackey as Beth.

NPH would be a fun Charley, but I doubt he would be available (he probably would be interested).

I am trying so hard not to start making wishes, as this is the show I am most anticipating this season.

David walked into the valley With a stone clutched in his hand He was only a boy But he knew someone must take a stand There will always be a valley Always mountains one must scale There will always be perilous waters Which someone must sail -Into the Fire Scarlet Pimpernel

#12

ENCORES ; MERRILY cast???

Posted: 8/22/11 at 9:34pm

Ugh. Raul Esparza? The man who thinks popping a vaguely gassy expression onto his face tricks the audience into thinking he's Acting!? He's a****ring on a plate full of onion rolls. No thanks.

#13

ENCORES ; MERRILY cast???

Posted: 8/22/11 at 9:40pm

In the world of an essentially non-realist musical in which the characters age, backwards, over decades, played in a cavernous auditorium like the City Center. By the way, only 7 years ago I saw O'Malley play Sharon, an ingenue if ever there be one, in Finian's Rainbow, quite well and convincingly at the diminutive Irish Rep. I think she could easily handle the world-weary alcoholic Mary at the City Center this coming season.

Having said that, I confess that Pappas is probably too old for Charley. But I stick by the rest of the cast.

#14

ENCORES ; MERRILY cast???

Posted: 8/22/11 at 9:50pm

The casting breakdown for this incarnation of the show said that the creative team is looking for actors in their mid 20s to early 30s, so clearly James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim disagree with you.

For the record, Ann Morrison, Lonny Price, and Jim Walton were 25, 22, and 33 respectively in the original production. Most of the people you suggested are in their mid to late 40s.

Updated On: 8/22/11 at 09:50 PM

#15

ENCORES ; MERRILY cast???

Posted: 8/22/11 at 10:22pm

What about an experimental production with Patti LuPone as Mary and Mandy Patinkin as Frank AND Charley?

I kid, I kid. I know he's divisive, but I personally think Raul Esparza is one of the most exciting musical theater performers of his generation. I'll do a little jump for joy if he's in this, but I still admit that he's probably too old.

Anyone think Bobby Steggert could pull off Charley? I'd love to see him give it a go.

#16

ENCORES ; MERRILY cast???

Posted: 8/22/11 at 10:28pm

Whhhhippp! three, four and five.

#17

ENCORES ; MERRILY cast???

Posted: 8/22/11 at 10:29pm

In a few years I think Steggert would be a great Frank, but I don't see him as Charley (to be fair I can't see anyone as Charley really, as that role is so tied to Lonny Price).

#18

ENCORES ; MERRILY cast???

Posted: 8/22/11 at 10:34pm

I keep thinking of Steggert's moment of righteous anger in Ragtime and have tried to extend that into a simmering boil for "Franklin Shepherd, Inc." I realize I'm stretching!

I also have never seen the show, only heard the recordings, so it's a REAL shot in the dark.

Also, I was surprised to look Steggert up and discover that he's 30!

#19

ENCORES ; MERRILY cast???

Posted: 8/22/11 at 10:37pm

Somethingwicked, we all know how well that first production went. I'm fine with the age breakdown for this production, but I wasn't familiar with it when I weighed in here on who would be good for the show.

Be that as it may, I love your idea of Christina Hendricks as Gussie.

#20

ENCORES ; MERRILY cast???

Posted: 8/22/11 at 11:03pm

Esparza was not at all believable as mid-twenties in ARCADIA. He stuck out like a sore thumb next to Gummer and Robbins.

Hendricks would LOOK great at Gussie, but what's the fun of having her do that great solo when you have a voice like hers? Skinner--so good in the DC production--should return.

Updated On: 8/22/11 at 11:03 PM

#21

ENCORES ; MERRILY cast???

Posted: 8/22/11 at 11:18pm

Skinner would have to be Gussie's mother.
I'd like to see Natalie Joy Johnson's Gussie.

#22

ENCORES ; MERRILY cast???

Posted: 8/22/11 at 11:19pm

Skinner is only 41--and isn't Gussie supposed to be at least a few years older than Frank?

#23

ENCORES ; MERRILY cast???

Posted: 8/22/11 at 11:23pm

Really? Does Skinner read older to anyone else?

#24

ENCORES ; MERRILY cast???

Posted: 8/22/11 at 11:26pm

I don't think she reads any older than her actual age. That said, she was 32 when she played Gussie opposite 40-year-old Michael Hayden.

#25

ENCORES ; MERRILY cast???

Posted: 8/22/11 at 11:27pm

Skinner looks great for her age, but she'd definitely read a little too old opposite more age-appropriate actors (which is what they're going for in this production.)

I still love the idea of Christina Hendricks, but Sara Ramirez would also be a knockout Gussie. I can't even begin to imagine the things she'd do with "Good Thing Going."

Updated On: 8/22/11 at 11:27 PM

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