Glenn Close in ALNM?

[wiggum2]

Posted: 6/23/13 at 8:08pm

Wasn't Glenn supposed to star in ALMN in the mid 90s? Anyone know what happened? Would she be good as Desiree?

[Gothampc]

Posted: 6/23/13 at 8:11pm

There was always a rumor that she would do the part, either on stage or in a tv special.

I don't think she would be good in the role. Desiree is supposed to be a European actress. Glenn Close is too midwestern USA. And I had the same problem with Bernadette Peters, she was too flora dora girl for the role.

Updated On: 6/23/13 at 08:11 PM

[americanboy99]

Posted: 6/25/13 at 6:26pm

Oy.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 6/25/13 at 6:38pm

Yep, totally too mid-western USA.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 6/25/13 at 7:09pm

Gotham, are you serious? Glenn Close is about as East Coast as you can possibly get. (and AEA already beat me to it in terms of Marquise de Merteuil, her greatest screen role)

[Gothampc]

Posted: 6/25/13 at 7:19pm

Sorry, I'm not a Glenn Close fan. (And for the record, I'm not that thrilled by Meryl Streep either.)

But I wouldn't cast Julie Andrews either and I think she's a wonderful actress.

I see Desiree as more of a Sophia Loren type. Beautiful and mysterious.

The whole point of naming her Desiree is that she has some allure.

[ljay889]

Posted: 6/25/13 at 7:25pm

I actually think Catherine Zeta-Jones fit the type the most out of the major Desirees. There are many lines about her being "ravishingly beautiful." With CZJ being a real European beauty, it was clear why everyone thought Desiree was so stunning. I would not call Close or Judi Dench "ravishingly beautiful"," but Dench had the acting chops to make up for that. Close probably would have as well.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 6/25/13 at 7:28pm

"I actually think Catherine Zeta-Jones fit the type the most out of the major Desirees."

I thought CZJ was well cast, the best choice out of the available list of actresses. Her "Send in the Clowns" disappointed me a little bit, but I blame that on the director.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 6/25/13 at 7:33pm

She made me throw up in my mouth a little, repeatedly. all through the show, but maybe it was something I et.

And I still can't believe they turned that dinner party into a pic-a-nic.

[ComingUpRoses2]

Posted: 6/25/13 at 7:37pm

Physically, Zeta-Jones is perfect for the role, but I thought most of her acting choices were strange. She didn't get any laughs out of "You Must Meet My Wife" and her "Send in the Clowns" was just blah.

Maybe with a better director she would have thrived. God knows she has the potential to be wonderful in the role.

[labwyfan]

Posted: 6/25/13 at 7:45pm

I thought this said Glenn Close in AIDA.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 6/25/13 at 11:31pm

I thought Zeta-Jones was magnetic on stage, I was very happy to see her take home the Tony, but the director and most things around the show seemed to be doing their best to make the show terrible. Imagine what Bartlett Sher could have done with that production and (some) of that cast, I honestly still think casting someone like Zeta-Jones opposite whatshisname as Fredrick was a terrible idea, Ramona Mallory was only good on paper, and well, I loved Leigh Ann Larkin in GYPSY but she was in an entirely different production than the rest of the cast.
Anyway, to go back to the topic, I adore Glenn Close and think she's awesome in period and contemporary roles. I also love her as Norma Desmond but somehow I can't get into her in Sondheim roles, she has yet to sing a Sondheim song in a way I find interesting, moving and/or well-sung; the only Sondheim role I'd love to see her play is the Witch, she'd be glorious, but for some reason I don't want to see her as Desiree.

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 6/25/13 at 11:34pm

Desiree needs a warmth and vulnerability at her core, 2 things I think Glenn Close has lacked in every role she's played since Cherry Barnum and Mrs. Garp.

[Will42]

Posted: 6/26/13 at 3:02pm

'Desiree needs a warmth and vulnerability at her core, 2 things I think Glenn Close has lacked in every role she's played since Cherry Barnum and Mrs. Garp.'

You obviously hasn't seen Albert Nobbs. Glenn Close is a Great actress, who could play any role.
Her rendition of Send in the Clowns is one of my favorite: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vufO2FZY6XQ

[Gothampc]

Posted: 6/26/13 at 3:35pm

Will42, that clip demonstrates exactly why she shouldn't play the role. She "acts" every single word. Julie Andrews fell into this trap with her singing where every word had to have a special punch to it. Rather than playing the character, I felt Glenn was treating the words like it was the holy word sent down from God Sondheim. To quote (or paraphrase) Ethel Merman: "Just sing the f'in song."

[MusicalBoy]

Posted: 6/26/13 at 3:42pm

I feel Glenn Close would've made a fine Desiree for a concert production or a run in some capacity, but not a definitive one, she lacks the sensuality and youthfulness beyond her age.

As long as we're discussing favourite Desirees, Hannah Waddingham (Trevor Nunn's first Desiree in London) has yet to be topped, as does that entire production in my mind (in the west end, god knows what happened before it opened on broadway).

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 6/26/13 at 6:00pm

"You obviously hasn't seen Albert Nobbs."

Au contraire, will42, her portrayal of Albert Nobbs was correct for that character-- no visible emotion, no breaching of the wall she's forced upon herself, a repression so deep she wouldn't know what an easy human interaction would even look like. Close's portrayal was perfectly correct, but all ice-cold intellect. She's incredibly skilled, no argument. She just doesn't let that sense of honest unfiltered HEART come through in anything I've seen her do.

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 6/27/13 at 2:15am

Glenn is such a great actress, she can play "any role"! With that said CZJ, although I'm not a fan of hers, was absolutely perfection in ALNM on Broadway. Her performance at the Tonys was just not nearly as good as the performance she gave 8/week at the Walter Kerr Theatre.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 6/27/13 at 2:48pm

"The whole point of naming her Desiree is that she has some allure."

I doubt she would have evinced all that much allure at the baptismal font.

I like Close when I like her ("Dangerous Liaisons") and don't when I don't ("Sunset Blvd."), but I could imagine her being a lovely Desiree back in the '90s.

[AC126748]

Posted: 6/27/13 at 2:55pm

Close's association with a Night Music revival dates back to the late nineties, and a Broadway revival directed by Trevor Nunn, was announced in 2004 for the 2006 season. Obviously, it never happened, and Nunn went on to direct the subsequent revival. See the link below.

Forbidden Broadway spoofed a potential Close-led Night Music around 2000, in a parody of "Buddy's Blues" called "Sondheim's Blues".

Speaking of actresses rumored to play Desiree, weren't both Emma Thompson and Elaine Paige, at one point or another, rumored for (separate) London productions?


Playbill link

Updated On: 6/27/13 at 02:55 PM

[Musicaldudepeter]

Posted: 6/27/13 at 3:19pm

Wasn't Natasha Richardson supposed to play Desiree opposite her mother Vanessa Redgrave as Mme. Armfeldt? Richardson would have been perfect. They did a reading of it I think a few years before she passed away.

[AC126748]

Posted: 6/27/13 at 3:21pm

^That reading was a fundraiser for Roundabout, and it took place exactly two months before Richardson's untimely death, not years. After Richardson's death, I believe, Redgrave stated that a full production had been in the works, presumably under the auspices of Roundabout.

[Musicaldudepeter]

Posted: 6/27/13 at 3:25pm

Would have been a lovely production for sure. Richardson was ideal for that role.

[AC126748]

Posted: 6/27/13 at 3:29pm

Yes, I was at the concert, and it was a lovely evening. Richardson was quite good. She was never a singer, but she played the role with great humor and pathos. The entire cast of that evening (including Victor Garber, Christine Baranski, and Jill Paice) was pretty much across-the-board excellent.

Updated On: 6/27/13 at 03:29 PM

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 6/27/13 at 3:35pm

If we had another Night Music production any time soon, I would hope Emma Thompson would be at the top of the list for Desiree.