Hoff is PAL JOEY with Channing and Plimpton — Page 3

I remember those City Center revivals well. They usually ran two weeks and some of the interesting casts included: Elaine Stritch in Wonderful Town; Kaye Ballard in Wonderful Town; Sally Ann Howes in Finian's Rainbow (the only one to transfer to Broadway); Barbara Cook and Farley Granger in The King and I; Barbara Cook in Carousel (one time as Carrie, the other as Julie); Kitty Carlisle in Kiss Me, Kate; and others. Non-musicals included Helen Hayes in The Glass Menagerie and, the one I'd give my eye teeth to have seen, Tallulah Bankhead in A Streetcar Name Desire.

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DefyingGravity, I hate to say it but I thought it was about The Hoff as well. I was like "huh?"

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I'm really excited to see the rest of the casting!

Why should I wanna see an actor-who-can't-dance play Joey and an actress-who-can't-sing play Vera?

I don't wanna! I DON'T WANNA!

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I want to see it for pure interest sake but I can't pretend to know who would be good for what casting.

Looks interesting though. I'm sad it wasn't Matt

can plimpton sing though?

God, THAT hasn't been brought up before...

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BdwyOpal, if you had a talent like Gene Kelly or Greggory Hines, do you really want us to believe you would never ever have used it?

We're pretty knowledgeable on this site. We do our research. Some of the people blogging here have decades of experience working in the theater. If we say he's never danced in a show professionally before, he probably hasn't. So what was he doing with that world-class talent all these years, storing it in the closet until the right show came along?

This show was written for a superb dancing talent, not a guy who can sing and has moved nicely onstage in the two - count em - two shows he's done on Broadway.

He's being cast because he was in Jersey Boys. That's the plain, simple truth. They hope toi cash in on Jersey Boys success.

Maybe he can act the book (which is only about 40 pages without the lyrics) but he can't dance the numbers so what's going to be up there is a watered down version - probably the only version that's going to be on Broadway in 20 years - of one of the greatest, most groundbreaking shows of all time.

They could have done better, but they took the cheap and easy way out.

They could have had some balls and imported Adam Cooper, or found the next Gene Kelly or maybe had huge cajonnes and hired Savion Glover and done a black version.

Instead they got a guy whose only claim to fame is he doesn't play Frankie Vallie in "Jersey Boys."

It sucks and they better not believe in karma because the ghost of John O'Hara will haunt them forever and he was no ray of sunshine.

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If they screw it up, it'll be ages before it gets another Broadway run.

And that's sad.

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I had no idea Christian Hoff had such Claymate-sounding fans.

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PAL JOEY has such a great score and libretto that it is a shame that more attention is not being given to the overall production, starting with the cast. The Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization has so much control over productions of its musicals. One does not hear about the current SOUTH PACIFIC--one hears about RODGERS AND HAMMERSTEIN'S SOUTH PACIFIC. Why is there not a similar control over Rodgers and Hart musicals, whose scores are arguably as good or even greater than the scores of Rodgers and Hammerstein shows? At the very least, daughter Mary Rodgers(I forget her married name) should have been consulted about the Roundabout production, and maybe she was. One can only hope. Also, I can't understand why or how the libretto should be changed.

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"A Director" if he's a dancer, I'm a direct.... oh, wait a minute, I used to be a director.

I will repeat my assertion that he's not primarily a dancer. I don't care if he "learned" to dance for a role, it's far from the same thing as being Gene Kelly or Bob Fossee. Unless, you've unilaterally rejigged the requirements for what we decide is "a world famous dancer."

And I didn't just read about the show in IBDB, which I rarely use BECAUSE I DON'T HAVE TO. After 40 years in the business of show, after 35 years of voraciously reading every book on Broadway, after 50 years of seeing Broadway shows, I think I'm pretty much an expert.

And Christian Hoff has never wowed me with his dancing on Broadway. And certainly never like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsvDiqzSUBQ

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I will repeat my assertion that he's not primarily a dancer. I don't care if he "learned" to dance for a role, it's far from the same thing as being Gene Kelly or Bob Fossee. Unless, you've unilaterally rejigged the requirements for what we decide is "a world famous dancer."

allmylife - In 1940, Gene Kelly was NOT "a world famous dancer." Are you using a royal "we?"

"They could have done better, but they took the cheap and easy way out."

That's the Roundabout way of doing things.

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