There was no guarantee that the transfer would be announced at any specific time. And since nothing has been confirmed in any official capacity, things can of course still fall through.
That being said, people *have* been hired in relation to a transfer and - as has been noted previously, though deleted - even David Patrick Kelly posted about the transfer on Facebook and removed it. Obviously, if they planned this before working it out with the cast, that would change things.
There was no curtain call announcement. I agree that if the stars are not doing the transfer then there might not be a point to it all. Perhaps the likelihood of a transfer was stronger a week ago…
joshdog2014 said: "I think an argument could be made that Avenue Q is different since they are playing full characters including singing and speaking, whereas Kanagawa is “just” a puppeteer. But I really hope he would be eligible and nominated!"
Yeah, I almost mentioned how the Avenue Q actors admittedly were leads with spoken dialogue and solo singing, but I don’t think it would make a difference in terms of eligibility. I’m sure there’s individual voters who wouldn’t think to or want to recognize a puppeteer playing an animal, but as for eligibility, there doesn’t appear to be any rule prohibiting him from competing. And I doubt the organization would want to go out of their way to disqualify him, it would be a very bad look.
They’ve already nominated puppeteers alongside non puppeteering actors, so they’ve acknowledged that playing puppets is still acting. And they’ve nominated performances that had no spoken dialogue as well, so if such work can be recognized for a non puppeteering performance, then it should be no different for a puppeteering one like this.
In the event of a Broadway transfer, Kennedy Kanagawa’s situation would likely be akin to voice acting/motion capture performances at the Oscars. There would be bias standing in his way of being recognized, but there wouldn’t be any rules to disqualify him.
Anyway, whether he’d get a very deserving nomination is a whole other can of worms given the unknowns with competition (including internal from Creel with the plum role) and the timing of the production, with the prior theorized limited run this summer obviously not being a plus.
Moving back to whether this show does transfer or not, I sure hope it does, but if it doesn’t, I’m just glad to have seen a perfect night of theatre.
I must live in a different world because while I find her quite talented and she was perfect in this production, I'm not bothered at all that Bareilles may not transfer and find it hard to believe she's the hook on which the production's transfer success would depend.
Finding someone who can pull off that role as well as Sara did is HARD. I mean, that (surprisingly) is one of the most difficult roles in all of musical theater to get right which is why great performances of it are so few and far between. Sara managed to be everything that role needs and then some. I would argue that without her there giving that performance, any potential transfer would greatly suffer.
JasonC3 said: "I must live in a different world because while I find her quite talented and she was perfect in this production, I'm not bothered at all that Bareilles may not transfer and find it hard to believe she's the hook on which the production's transfer success would depend."
The cast is *literally* the only reason to transfer this. People aren’t going to shell out to see a semi-staged version of the show without a knockout cast, especially after the reactions this cast got. Moving on without one or two of them is one thing, but it gets to a point where there’s just no reason to transfer. I think Sara would be that breaking point. Maybe if NPH were staying but not Sara, but if you lose them both I think it’s DOA.
I do wonder that due to Sara, Neil & Heather not being able to transfer with this, that the plans are now scrapped.
A Chorus Line revival played its final Broadway performance on August 17, 2008. The tour played its final performance on August 21, 2011. A new non-equity tour started in October 2012 played its final performance on March 23, 2013. Another non-equity tour launched on January 20, 2018. The tour ended its US run in Kansas City and then toured throughout Japan August & September 2018.
Until we hear otherwise, let’s remain hopeful that it’s delayed and not postponed altogether. :) They could very well just wait until (almost) everyone is available again.
Or…get Sutton Foster to do it again. She seemed pretty great from the Hollywood Bowl performance.
I’m currently heartbroken by the possibility of this wondrous project not transferring to Broadway with this sublime cast but could they at least make a cast album?!? Please!?!
I was skeptical of Heather pulling this off as the witch based on the tv ad but god she blew me away this afternoon . Even the great meryl Streep can’t hold a candle to her performance. I need to hear her voice over and over again.
I do hope in the future when all the stars align, that is when all the main casts’ schedules align, they can mount this production on Broadway. Heather, Sara, Gavin, Denee, Neil (or maybe Christian), and the whole cast were just too perfect and gave a more comical yet at the end very deep and profound interpretation of my beloved characters. Somewhere in heaven I know Stephen is smiling. NOW PLEASE I NEED ME A CAST RECORDING!!!
A Chorus Line revival played its final Broadway performance on August 17, 2008. The tour played its final performance on August 21, 2011. A new non-equity tour started in October 2012 played its final performance on March 23, 2013. Another non-equity tour launched on January 20, 2018. The tour ended its US run in Kansas City and then toured throughout Japan August & September 2018.
Sorry, I've been popping in and out of these threads, and having trouble keeping track of this shift in the narrative. How much of this is fact rumor vs. speculation? Do we actually know that NPH and Bareilles are unavailable for a summer run? Or are we just assuming that because we know they will eventually have filming to do?
If in fact we DON'T know about any firm conflicts, then do we have any real reason to believe that the hypothetical transfer has been scrapped? Or is it just that we were expecting to get the announcement today, and it didn't come?
Since it is all still here say at this point, I saw Donna Murphy shared she went to Into the Woods yesterday matinee. Her post includes the following text: “Theres a second part to this into the woods chapter in my life coming up this week. Will keep you posted”
Jordan Catalano said: "I think someone on here said they heard an announcement was going to be made today and people just took that as fact."
When “news broke” (because I did hear it from a friend who is involved in aspects of the transfer), it was initially set to go on sale today, which would have meant an announcement sometime between then and today. As it got closer to today with no announcement, people seemed to assume it would happen today. As we’ve seen, that’s not the case, so my assumptions are A) it’s been delayed because of cast conflicts, or B) it’s been scrapped due to cast conflicts. There is, of course, the possibility of them still announcing, as it wasn’t slated to start until June anyway.
It all came together quickly, so I wouldn’t be shocked if it fell apart just as quickly. But there was not not official planning for this to happen, just saying. Again, take it with all the grains of salt you need, since I am but a faceless presence on these boards.
JasonC3 said: "I must live in a different world because while I find her quite talented and she was perfect in this production, I'm not bothered at all that Bareilles may not transfer and find it hard to believe she's the hook on which the production's transfer success would depend."
I will see it this summer if it transfers no matter what the cast is BUT Sara Barellis is a huge draw for me. Into the Woods is my favorite musical and yet one reason it is often a little disappointing for me when I've seen amateur or professional versions over the years is because no one has come close to matching Joanna Gleason as the Baker's Wife. From what I've heard about Sara, I would be extremely interested in seeing her performance.
While I take all rumors on here with a grain of salt, it seems to me that the rumors of a limited summer transfer are probably based in fact, given how multiple people were reporting it with utter confidence. Doesn't mean it's definitely true, but it was fairly convincing as far unsubstantiated message board rumors go.
So, if that's the case, it seems to me that they wouldn't have gotten to that stage in the planning if they didn't feel confident in the schedules of their stars. And as others have said, there's no way they're transferring without at least one of their 2 biggest stars.
IMO Sutton Foster's performance at the Hollywood Bowl was top notch too, but if Borle is attached I doubt she'd be interested, even after her run in Music Man is done.
Caption: Every so often there was a rare moment of perfect balance when I soared above him.