INTO THE WOODS and AS YOU LIKE IT official for Shakespeare in the Park- Page 5

[ljay889]

Posted: 1/27/12 at 4:38pm

ljay, it was Lansbury doing the heavy box office lifting with night music, not CZJ.

That is simply inaccurate. You are rewriting history here. I was a HUGE fan of that revival, and followed it every step of the way - it was CZJ's name that sold the tickets to tourists, etc.

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 1/27/12 at 4:44pm

Didn't she take a vacation during which they had to slash ticket prices INSANELY?

As for Paltrow, I like her. I even mentioned that she'd be a rather ideal Diana in a film version of Next to Normal. I'm just not sure how charactery she can get (same with Zeta Jones). That first half is pure character actress...which is why I think it is a rather tough role to cast.

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 1/27/12 at 4:45pm

I generally like Paltrow (her recent guest stint on GLEE showed a range in her talent that not many people had seen before,) but, if anything, she would have been a great Cinderella ten years ago. Now, if she's appropriate for any role in the show, it's The Baker's WIfe.

Updated On: 1/27/12 at 04:45 PM

[random person 112]

Posted: 1/27/12 at 4:47pm

ljay, hi from the tourist guess who sold my ticket not Zeta-Jones. I saw her the night before the tonys and i have never seen a worse performance in a theater. She was throwing everything at the wall in her performance with no cohension or real characterization. She was not funny in the least. And you couldn't understand a word she said, or sang. I was floored and very surprised she won in that year, i still think scott deserved the award more. Maybe she would fit the witch better but i hope they say no. Plus she is currently involved in filming Broken City and afterwards will be starting work on a new soderbergh film she's busy. As for bakers wife, for paltrow i don't know, maybe...

Updated On: 1/27/12 at 04:47 PM

[binau]

Posted: 1/27/12 at 4:48pm

"Didn't she take a vacation during which they had to slash ticket prices INSANELY?"

The discount for CZJ's absence was a lot larger than for Lansbury's. And I think the show might have had greater attendance when CZJ was out vs Lansbury, but I think this was only because the discount for much larger when CZJ was out.

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 1/27/12 at 4:50pm

Did I wander into an ESL class???

I seem to remember attendance being decent for her vacation, but that the average ticket price was astonishingly low.

[theatreguy]

Posted: 1/27/12 at 4:56pm

You're correct, quolbinau.

There were discounted tickets for Zeta-Jones' 2 vacation weeks so while attendance only dropped slightly (by 3% for the first week and 6% the second week), the average ticket price dropped by about $60.

For Lansbury's vacation, no discounts were offered in advance which meant that the opposite happened: attendance dropped by 27.8% the first week she was out, but the average ticket price only fell about $15.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 1/27/12 at 4:58pm

There are a lot of factors that go into box office during a star's vacation - time of year etc. You can analyze it in a hundred different ways, but there is no denying that Zeta Jones was absolutely a very large box office draw during her time in NIGHT MUSIC.

For the record, I saw Zeta Jones twice and thought she was breathtaking at both performances I attended. I'm not sure what was going on during the Tony broadcast, but what I experienced in the theatre was absolutely nothing like that.

Paltrow would probably surprise as the Witch and, much like her appearance on Glee, surprise and be a lot funnier and more lively than people would initially imagine. She has young children though and lives in London so that does seem a long shot.

[random person 112]

Posted: 1/27/12 at 5:04pm

Yes, theres also the fact certain stars don't add their appeal to certain shows. If i remember correctly a lot of the other actors in night musics company mentioned how very inconsistent her performance was, she could be spot on one night and just plain bad the next. Plus Zeta-Jones is very very busy right now.

Megan Mullally for the witch?

Ana Gasteyer As the bakers wife?

Updated On: 1/27/12 at 05:04 PM

[adamgreer]

Posted: 1/27/12 at 7:04pm

If i remember correctly a lot of the other actors in night musics company mentioned how very inconsistent her performance was, she could be spot on one night and just plain bad the next.

I remember one member of the company, a vaction swing, no less, calling her performance "inconsistent" on facebook. Let's not rewrite history, here.

[Owen22]

Posted: 1/27/12 at 7:19pm

Except for an odd delivery of "Send in the Clowns" (which seemed to have evolved into something truly disturbing by the Tony Awards) CZJ was an absolutely terrific Desiree. Well cast and a role well-delivered. Certainly better than Hannah Waddingham in the original production of this revival (though I though Hannah a fine Witch in Into the Woods).

[random person 112]

Posted: 1/27/12 at 7:38pm

i'm sorry i was incorrect if that is the case, i apologize. I saw her and was less than pleased. i mean you all complain about la LuPones diction whew. And i highly doubt she's going to walk out of her movie broken city that is filming around this time. She's not available for this production. Pick someone new to favor. She also recently signed onto a Soderbergh film that starts in april she will not be available for this run of this show.



Updated On: 1/27/12 at 07:38 PM

[random person 112]

Posted: 1/27/12 at 8:57pm

By the way i checked the reviews adam Hannah got some very good notices as well for Night Music. The only problem i heard in any of the reviews i read was that Hannah was younger than most ladies who play the part and the fact that they had thought of desire as older. Many thought she was fresh and wonderful frankly i would have preferred her.

PS: Bad Actresses don't get Oliver Nominations. Updated On: 1/27/12 at 08:57 PM

[bwayfan7000]

Posted: 1/27/12 at 11:29pm

Also, for the person who saw her right before the Tonys, wasn't that the week that she was very ill but trying to go on as much as possible? I'd imagine that could account for some of the "pushing" in the role, as it were, and also in part for what happened in her Tonys performance, but that has been talked to death, to be sure.

The point being that it is an undeniable fact, regardless of what anyone thought of her performance, that her name sold lots and lots of tickets. Did Lansbury help things? For sure. But I echo what posters have been saying in this thread that it was Zeta-Jones who ultimately attracted the masses. Don't forget that one of the reasons that it took Lansbury so long to commit to the show after it was essentially widely known that she was in talks because she didn't want to have to headline it alone should a non-star (such as Waddingham) win the role of Desiree.

And as for her casting as the Witch, I think she'd be very exciting. She is not without her flaws, but she has undeniable strengths in performance, and, to my mind, the Witch aligns with those strengths in a fantastic way.

[Owen22]

Posted: 1/27/12 at 11:50pm

I didn't think Waddingham was horrible, ironically her "Send in the Clowns" was quite moving. But nowhere near the dept CZJ brought to the role.

Oh and re: your review of CZJ: Bad actresses don't get Tonys either.

Updated On: 1/27/12 at 11:50 PM

[random person 112]

Posted: 1/27/12 at 11:52pm

If they can get her a vocal couch, especially the one who got her through chicago i wouldn't have objections. I did not know that she was sick during this time, and come to think of it she was clutching her throat alot too. Thank you for telling me that bwayfan. I have been a bit too harsh on her. I still would prefer someone new to the muscial mix, as i think there are alot more stars that can sing than we imagine, but she's a nice thought now. But sadely she can't do the production as she has a film that she's working on during the time rehersals would be going on so that's not going to happen.

Owen not that i'm arguing but Marissa Jaret Winkour has a tony.

Updated On: 1/28/12 at 11:52 PM

[adamgreer]

Posted: 1/27/12 at 11:57pm

Oh and re: your review of CZJ: Bad actresses don't get Tonys either.

Sure they do! CZJ isn't one of them, but it does happen.

[Kad]

Posted: 1/28/12 at 12:03am

I had a vocal couch once. I had to get rid of it, it kept moaning.

[Owen22]

Posted: 1/28/12 at 12:04am

so....what you mean....bad actresses never get Olivier nominations but they Do win Tonys...?

[random person 112]

Posted: 1/28/12 at 12:06am

I'm saying it's alot harder to be bad and get an oliver giving how strenous their selection process is and its more likely to have a bad actress win the tony than an oliver.

[Owen22]

Posted: 1/28/12 at 12:14am

I think you are way overestimating London's taste level, appreciation and/or estimation of musical theatre talent...Hannah Waddingham's Desiree being a mere droplet in a pond of surprisingly undeserved nominations....

[random person 112]

Posted: 1/28/12 at 10:04am

Well its a critics award and from what i'm reading she got very good reviews.

[Owen22]

Posted: 1/28/12 at 10:26am

Believe me, I don't hate Hannah, she gave me chills the first time I saw her in "The Beautiful Game", one of my top ten theatre moments. I loved her Witch. But her Desiree was very shallow compared to CZJ's. And again, I find a lot of London theatre critics don't know much about what constitutes "good" in musical theatre. They usually condescend to it, or are oddly over effusive.

[random person 112]

Posted: 1/28/12 at 10:38am

Well i didn't get to see her (i wish i had i'm a big fan) but i trust your judgement.

[PiraguaGuy2]

Posted: 1/28/12 at 1:26pm

It's just plain revisionist history to say that Catherine Zeta-Jones gave a terrible performance in A Little Night Music. She got great reviews and, if i remember correctly, good notices from many of the posters here. She gave a rough performance on the Tony broadcast, which, granted, was most people's only exposure to her performance. But anyone who saw her in Night Music (or in Chicago, for that matter,) knows she's a strong actress and singer, and in my opinion, she'd make a spectacular Witch.