From Playbill: Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch May Make Night Music On Broadway

[quitetheatrical23]

Posted: 5/28/10 at 11:24am

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/139898-EXCLUSIVE-Bernadette-Peters-and-Elaine-Stritch-May-Make-Night-Music-On-Broadway

what do we think?

[Unknown User]

Posted: 5/28/10 at 11:30am

Isn't it rich?

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 5/28/10 at 11:30am

I think it will close by Labor Day.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 5/28/10 at 11:37am

Phyllis is just bitter because she can't afford a ticket from Tijuana to come to NYC to see the production...

But seriously, if they join, it would surely be a limited engagement - maybe three months and I think it would do just fine at the box office in a 900 seat theatre with those two attached.

[slmlbl]

Posted: 5/28/10 at 11:39am

Holy crap. I'd be the in an instant!

[Famebroadway2]

Posted: 5/28/10 at 11:40am

Why would they announce this when contracts have not been signed? They MAY be taking over? If it's not a done deal why announce it?

If it's true... I am there!!

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 5/28/10 at 11:42am

well its not announced - that article is reporting the gossip.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 5/28/10 at 11:42am

They'd still be in this steaming turd of a production.

Can't we just get Bartlett Sher to direct it for Lincoln Center, with a full orchestra and real sets, and real actors who play the roles as written, instead of this Nunn-sensical revival?

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 5/28/10 at 11:48am

Whenever I think of Night Music, I think of Ouiser Boudreaux, albeit slightly paraphrased - I do not see Night Music because I can nap at home for free.

Plus, I had to leave Tijuana after I was named patient zero in that scabies outbreak.

[iamchanging9]

Posted: 5/28/10 at 11:50am

this sounds magnificent

they'd have to make several casting adjustments to fit the elaine and bp, no?

[adamgreer]

Posted: 5/28/10 at 11:50am

I agree that it would be a limited engagement. I would guess something like 3-5 months, probably long enough for the production to recoup its investment and make a small profit.

The box office numbers will certainly dip, but I think that in a 900 seat house, with a discount, Peters and Stritch would sell enough tickets to keep the show profitable.

[macbeth]

Posted: 5/28/10 at 11:53am

It amuses me when 'news' stories are touted as major exclusives and are just repeats of message board gossip w/ no actual sourcing.

I can't imagine it being able to extend for long or that the definite box-office drop would be a good thing for Bernadette's career, especially if CZJ wins the Tony.

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 5/28/10 at 11:53am

Can't we just get Bartlett Sher to direct it for Lincoln Center, with a full orchestra and real sets, and real actors who play the roles as written, instead of this Nunn-sensical revival?

Hear, hear!

~Steven

[ljay889]

Posted: 5/28/10 at 11:58am

I've been saying Stritch should do it for months!

If it does happen, I bet tickets only go on sale through the original date of August 29. If it sells fine, I'm sure they would open a new block.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 5/28/10 at 11:59am

Imagine her wooden ring speak, as delivered by Joanne from Company!

[ljay889]

Posted: 5/28/10 at 12:00pm

<3 The cute has to really act. I hope she still has it in her.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 5/28/10 at 12:05pm

Come now. Has she played anything but a variation on the same theme for the past 40 years?

Perhaps she'll do "Liaisons" like she did "Broadway Baby," all dry-drunky and ironic!

[Brick]

Posted: 5/28/10 at 12:08pm

I'm there in a heartbeat.

[beautywickedlover]

Posted: 5/28/10 at 12:19pm

I've been a fan of Bernadette's since she played the stepmother in Rogers and Hammerstein's "Cinderella" and when she voiced Sophie in "Anastasia" and Rita on "Animaniacs." I'd love for her to return to Broadway.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 5/28/10 at 12:26pm

I'll be shocked if there is an official annoumcement today. It's a Friday afternoon before a holiday weekend. This is when they dump news that they want no one to pay attention to. It's called "the Friday news dump." If they want to get maximum press from this, they'll wait until Tuesday.

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 5/28/10 at 12:37pm

You've seen too many episodes of West Wing

If Stritch can be 1/8 as good as she was in the extraordinary A DELICATE BALANCE, it will be a masterful performance.

[Play Esq.]

Posted: 5/28/10 at 12:39pm

Obviously, it wouldn't be her song in the show, but this is just reminding me of how completely transfixed I was during Stritch's reading of "Everyday a Little Death" at the Carlyle.

[ljay889]

Posted: 5/28/10 at 12:52pm

If this cast change happens, I hope they release a discount, and maybe change their student rush to actual seats. Updated On: 5/28/10 at 12:52 PM

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 5/28/10 at 1:26pm

Didn't Elaine Stritch already say at an event that she turned them down?

[ljay889]

Posted: 5/28/10 at 1:29pm

She apparently said she "wouldn't want to make her return to Broadway in a wheelchair."

But Stritch is Stritch. Everything she says needs to be taken with a grain of salt.