Michael Bennett, I would disagree. When the original production opened, Alice Ripley was 34 and Emily Skinner was 27. Betsy Wolfe is 30 and Erin Davie is 33, I believe, and I think both of them still look particularly young. Sierra Boggess is 30 and Laura Osnes is 27, so it's not like the suggestion of using them is providing a younger alternative.
I may be remembering incorrectly, but are Daisey and Violet's ages even specified in the script? In real life, they lived until age 60, though I know the show is in no way an actual biographical depiction of them at all.
In regards to the commercial viability of the piece, Roundabout hosted the workshop Bill Condon did with Wolfe and Davie a few years ago. They didn't commit to a full production then because of Condon's busy film schedule, but I could certainly see them being interested in bringing it to New York if it's well received at the Kennedy Center. With a piece this risky (and this heavily revised,) it's very smart it to go out of town and have an opportunity to really find its voice first, especially after how it got burned the first time around.
Tonya Pinkins: Then we had a "Lot's Wife" last June that was my personal favorite. I'm still trying to get them to let me sing it at some performance where we get to sing an excerpt that's gone.
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.
Updated On: 3/28/12 at 10:28 AM