#26
Posted: 11/23/03 at 12:35pm
I agree with Max's great idea -- Lauper might be a revelation as Roxy.
As for a new Rose, I doubt the competing theatrical divas of the same generation -- LuPone, Buckley, etc -- would step in to this production. Maybe I'm wrong. Liza's moment has come and gone I fear. (And perhaps that happened as early as Bette's TV version. She could sing the hell out of it in a studio, to act it on TV with lip-synching, but will anyone do another so soon? And per post above, 8 X a week seems prohibitive.)
What about a less likely choice -- the way Tyne came out of the woodwork and shocked everyone.
Hey, about the people who NEVER get a shot at this? Leslie Uggams comes to mind. Anyone who saw her in her serious stage work (pre MILLIE) know she has major acting chops. It's a shame to think she never gets a shot at a role like that, and has to only play "black" parts.
O this T, and subj of another thread, but there are great roles that are too often unavailabe to African-American performers. The only part in mainstream musical theater that has consistently been open to black women has been Aldonza. By the ay: Joe Papp, who was so vocal about non-traditional casting downtown at the public ... never put a black Sheila or Cassie on Broadway, though he often allowed non-Latinas to play Morales. Maybe that was Bennett's edict, but I always found it hypocritcal that the cash cow had to be cast as stereotypically as possible.
As for a new Rose, I doubt the competing theatrical divas of the same generation -- LuPone, Buckley, etc -- would step in to this production. Maybe I'm wrong. Liza's moment has come and gone I fear. (And perhaps that happened as early as Bette's TV version. She could sing the hell out of it in a studio, to act it on TV with lip-synching, but will anyone do another so soon? And per post above, 8 X a week seems prohibitive.)
What about a less likely choice -- the way Tyne came out of the woodwork and shocked everyone.
Hey, about the people who NEVER get a shot at this? Leslie Uggams comes to mind. Anyone who saw her in her serious stage work (pre MILLIE) know she has major acting chops. It's a shame to think she never gets a shot at a role like that, and has to only play "black" parts.
O this T, and subj of another thread, but there are great roles that are too often unavailabe to African-American performers. The only part in mainstream musical theater that has consistently been open to black women has been Aldonza. By the ay: Joe Papp, who was so vocal about non-traditional casting downtown at the public ... never put a black Sheila or Cassie on Broadway, though he often allowed non-Latinas to play Morales. Maybe that was Bennett's edict, but I always found it hypocritcal that the cash cow had to be cast as stereotypically as possible.
"I'm a comedian, but in my spare time, things bother me." Garry Shandling
Updated On: 11/23/03 at 12:35 PM
