Into the Woods Delacorte Theater Rumors: Meryl Streep as The Witch? — Page 2

Meryl's film schedule is open, she doesn't star on August: Osage County until the fall.

What was so awful about Kerry's performance as the Baker's Wife? I have thoroughly enjoyed her work in the shows that I have seen her in, so it's hard for me to imagine her butchering that role. I have heard it criticized often, but could someone elaborate and explain why?

For the most part, I enjoyed the revival a lot more than most people on the board. However, Kerry O'Malley's performance was definitely not one of the reasons why.

I will give her this...she was faced with an almost impossible task. Joanna Gleason's performance in that role is iconic, and any comparisons to her would not be favorable. That being said, O'Malley simply wasn't very funny. Lines that were once funny went over like lead balloons. I have no idea what she was trying to do, but her comedic timing was horrendous. Her insistence on turning the Baker's Wife's songs into big belty numbers didn't help, either.

The first time I ever heard of Meryl Streep was in a musical and she sang a lot of songs in it. Elizabeth Swados Alice In Concert. Meryl was Alice, Debbie Allen was the Red Queen and the incomparable Michael Jeter was the Dormouse. It was a New York Shakespeare Festival production in 1982 or so. It was filmed as Alice at the Palace. The dvd is still available.
Meryl in a musical

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Nononononono. I'm already gonna have to wait in line 12 hours to get a ticket, I refuse to camp out for 3 days. Theatre is such an expensive addiction.

^That's how I feel.

I could see Mamie or Grace Gummer in it as well which could sweeten the deal for her to do it (Baker's Wife, Cinderella), that would really work well for everyone...

Regular tickets are available for free on the day of. But you can be seats in advance in for $150.00.

And speaking of filmed performances, she is great singing country on "I'm Checking Out" at the end of POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE, and good, campy fun singing at the beginning of DEATH BECOMES HER.

Meryl was originally considered for the movie version of Evita. Somewhere out there, there has to be a screen test of her singing one of those songs.

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quitetheatrical23, have you seen Grace Gummer act? I hate to be mean but I've caught a few episodes of her TV show "Gigantic" (yes TeenNick is a guilty pleasure of mine) and her scenes were just painful. Living proof that acting ability isn't necessarily inherited.

Its been said that Streep has been 'looking' for a script to do on Broadway; I assume for an extended run, though in today's Broadway climate, an extended run for a straight play seems to be 14 weeks.

But regardless of who ends up playing the roles, the Public's first obligation is the production in the Park. They should be lining up the best cast they possibly can for this summer, not casting actors simply because they think they can convince them to transfer to Broadway for an open-ended run. That's not the mission statement for Shakespeare in the Park.

There is also no specific reason why (should the transfer happen) it would be in the fall or immediately following the run in the park, so the scheduling issues Streep might have wouldn't in themselves necessarily prevent her casting on Broadway.

I'm almost certain Streep won't be donig this, so I think people are getting way ahead of themselves in analyzing how her schedule could accomodate a possible transfer (talk of which I find incredibly premature too.)

That being said, while I understand that she would play The Witch now, am I the only one who thinks that, in almost every single aspect, she's actually a pretty textbook Baker's Wife? I find there to be a sort of self-indulgent bravado to The Witch that goes against everything about Streep's persona.

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Updated On: 3/8/12 at 11:01 AM