FIRST WIVES CLUB Finally Materializing?

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 5/24/08 at 10:32pm

There are rumors beginning to circulate that the musical version of THE FIRST WIVES CLUB will finally have a pre-Broadway tryout at the Curran Theater in San Francisco this season.

Has anyone heard anything of the sort?

I didn't even know the material had ever even been workshopped or finished, let alone ready to be fully produced.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 5/24/08 at 11:39pm

I'd love to hear casting rumors, and not the ones the producers leaked like two years ago (Bernadette Peters, Megan Mullally, Olivia Newton-John, Stockard Channing, and Queen Latifah)

[nasty_khakis]

Posted: 5/24/08 at 11:50pm

i'd love to see joanna gleason in the diane keaton role.

[B3TA07]

Posted: 5/24/08 at 11:58pm

You know who I'd love to be in it?

Carolee Carmello.
And LaChanze.

[lakezurich]

Posted: 5/24/08 at 11:59pm

LaChanze!!!

[mll85]

Posted: 5/25/08 at 12:10am

I heard that San Francisco is supposed to get two pre-Broadway tryouts next season but First Wives Club isn't one of them. But no word has been said about what the second show will be so what I heard about First Wives Club could be wrong.
Updated On: 5/25/08 at 12:10 AM

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 5/25/08 at 12:22am

mll85, I had previously heard that San Francisco would be getting both EVER AFTER and LEAP OF FAITH, which is why I asked if anyone else had heard these new rumblings about THE FIRST WIVES CLUB.

[mll85]

Posted: 5/25/08 at 12:31am

I heard Ever After is definately going to be having it's tryout this coming winter.

The first mention I heard about SF possibly getting the tryout of Leap of Faith was in the Raul Esparza interview that was posted today. But in it Raul says that he's not sure what city its going to be in but it's between SF and Chicago and it's probably going to happen at the end of the year.

We won't know for sure because SHN isn't announcing their season until after the Tony awards.


Updated On: 5/25/08 at 12:31 AM

[broadwaybelter]

Posted: 5/25/08 at 12:43am

That's interesting information to know...

[FOAnatic]

Posted: 5/25/08 at 1:46am

FIRST WIVES CLUB took so long because they were doing everything during Zambello's time off from MERMAID.

After that, she had commitments with other productions including THE LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE musical and another opera.

Personally, I wish they would have just gone with someone else instead of just waiting for her. I can't even begin to imagine what someone like Mike Nichols or Jack O'Brien would do with this material.

But, I won't complain. It's a blessing for me to even be getting the show at all. I've been hoping for a musicalization of this novel/movie for years.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 5/25/08 at 1:47am

Nichols would have been wonderful.

[B3TA07]

Posted: 5/25/08 at 2:43am

I'm not saying I know anything.
I'm just saying you should pay attention to my post.

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 5/25/08 at 10:41am

Donna Murphy, Tonya Pinkins, and Joanna Gleason would be the perfect trio for these roles.

But Carmello and LaChanze were wonderful opposite each other in the Papermill production of BABY years ago, so if they were indeed cast, I could see it working.

My only confusion is who Carmello would play? She's a little too baudy for Annie and a little too poised for Brenda, and since we know Elise is African-American in the musical version, that wouldn't be her either.

[GYPSY1527]

Posted: 5/25/08 at 11:13am

Would Donna really fir into the Brenda role? I guess Midler's interpretation still has an impression on me cause I can't see it. How would the role be different?

[everythingtaboo]

Posted: 5/25/08 at 11:39am

What I would really love is for Broadway not to look like someone's Netflix queue in the next couple of years.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 5/25/08 at 2:49pm

I don't see Murphy in the Brenda role but I definitely see her as Annie, didn't she play a somewhat similar role in WHAT ABOUT JOAN?
I'd say Testa, Pinkins, and Murphy. Now that'd be a top-notch cast.

[nasty_khakis]

Posted: 5/25/08 at 2:55pm

Didn't the re-imagine it as african american BECAUSE they had a "name" already involved like Labelle or Latifa or someone?

[winter_sky]

Posted: 5/25/08 at 4:14pm

Mary Testa as Brenda please?

Kate Burton as Annie?