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It's Official! Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch to Star in A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC Starting 7/13 — Page 3

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#51

It's Official! Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch to Star in A LITTLE NIG

Posted: 6/7/10 at 6:58pm

Sorry but this is stunt casting plain and simple.

Desiree is supposed to have a European sophistication, not a Queens accent like Bernie has. It should be a Sophia Loren type not a Shirley Temple type.

And you have to believe that Madame Armfeldt was once a desirable lady, not the crass, loud foghorn of Stritch. It should be a Rosemary Harris type not a Shelley Winters type.
If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
#52

It's Official! Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch to Star in A LITTLE NIG

Posted: 6/7/10 at 7:01pm

Did you believe Peters was too Queens in INTO THE WOODS? SONG AND DANCE? GYPSY? Come on, she's an actor. She's about as tied to Queens as Betty Buckley is to Texas or LuPone to Long Island.
"I'm a comedian, but in my spare time, things bother me." Garry Shandling

Updated On: 6/7/10 at 07:01 PM

#56

It's Official! Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch to Star in A LITTLE NIG

Posted: 6/7/10 at 7:21pm

Two of the great artists of the American musical theater will be performing in one of the greatest of all works of the American musical theater, alas, squandering their glorious talents in this idiotic production directed by one of the consummate morons in the English-speaking theater.
"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers." Thomas Pynchon, GRAVITY'S RAINBOW "Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." Philip K. Dick My blog: http://www.roscoewrites.blogspot.com/
#57

It's Official! Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch to Star in A LITTLE NIG

Posted: 6/7/10 at 7:25pm

Come on, they will no doubt be given plenty of room to make the show their own. The whole thing becomes deeper and more moving with a Desiree who really might have an age-related crisis. That alone puts a brand new, er, traditional stamp on this production. The whole concept of the 40ish Desiree seemed at odds with her eleven o'clock spot -- one of the most exquisite and emotionally satisfying numbers ever written for a woman d'un age certain, at least partially squandered, in terms of emotional depth and dramatic stakes, when delivered by a woman decidedly in her prime, no matter what century. I'm betting on Peters to restore some of the original luster.
"I'm a comedian, but in my spare time, things bother me." Garry Shandling
#59

It's Official! Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch to Star in A LITTLE NIG

Posted: 6/7/10 at 8:04pm

As long as that glorious score is being performed by 3 people, and as long as Ramona Mallory plays Anne as a frigid little bitch with a voice that can etch glass, this production will suck. As long as Fredrik's big scene with Desiree makes no sense because no man in his right mind would choose Ramona Mallory's idiotic spoiled brat schoolgirl over Bernadette Peters' Desiree, this production will be a catastrophe.

As long as it has Trevor Nunn associated with it, it will suck.

Two great actresses will do their best, no doubt, but even they can't save this disastrous production.

I may be wrong. Maybe they'll get Bartlett Sher to doctor the show. Please God In Heaven, let that be the case.
"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers." Thomas Pynchon, GRAVITY'S RAINBOW "Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." Philip K. Dick My blog: http://www.roscoewrites.blogspot.com/
#61

It's Official! Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch to Star in A LITTLE NIG

Posted: 6/7/10 at 8:46pm

It looks like they're signed throught Nov. 7, but the playbill article says tickets are on sale through Jan. 9 2011.
A Chorus Line revival played its final Broadway performance on August 17, 2008. The tour played its final performance on August 21, 2011. A new non-equity tour started in October 2012 played its final performance on March 23, 2013. Another non-equity tour launched on January 20, 2018. The tour ended its US run in Kansas City and then toured throughout Japan August & September 2018.
#64

It's Official! Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch to Star in A LITTLE NIG

Posted: 6/7/10 at 9:15pm

I'm with Goth. Why wouldn't it be considered stunt casting in this case? Many people here think it only applies to movie stars and TV actors, but casting two well-known and respected theater veterans as replacements can also apply. Especially since neither has been on Broadway in 6-8 years. That's certainly a big draw to fans and theater enthusiasts alike. Otherwise, they would've gone with lesser-known actors. And as is evident in this thread, several people are now eager to revisit the show or see it for the first time simply because of who's in it.
Salve, Regina, Mater misericordiae
Vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra
Salve, Salve Regina
Ad te clamamus exsules filii Eva
Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes
O clemens O pia
#67

It's Official! Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch to Star in A LITTLE NIG

Posted: 6/7/10 at 9:24pm

I don't think you can argue stunt casting when two people who made their names in a composer's musicals are then cast in a production of his biggest hit. It's EVENT casting, sure. But I think what makes something "stunt" casting is that there's an element of danger involved. If it gets pulled off, it'll be amazing. Otherwise, it will be a disaster. Putting a pop star or a talk show host in a musical...stunt casting. Putting two huge musical theater actresses in a musical (even as replacements)...event casting. Totally fair if you want to argue that it's bad casting (though I personally think it's AMAZING). But I still don't think it counts as a stunt. Semantic argument to end now. :)
#68

It's Official! Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch to Star in A LITTLE NIG

Posted: 6/7/10 at 9:26pm

Very true. "Event" casting is much different than "stunt" casting. I don't think they cast these two women thinking "Ok, THESE are names that are going to sell out the entire run in 10 minutes" I think this is amazing casting and a treat to musical theater lovers. There's a huge difference to me.
#70

It's Official! Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch to Star in A LITTLE NIG

Posted: 6/7/10 at 9:30pm

"I'm with Goth. Why wouldn't it be considered stunt casting in this case? Many people here think it only applies to movie stars and TV actors, but casting two well-known and respected theater veterans as replacements can also apply."

The issue is that Stunt Casting has negative connotations where people are cast without any artistic thought/integrity/merit etc.. *only* for name value (they didn't cast Jerry Springer in CHICAGO thinking he would give the definitive performance of the role).

I might accept that Elaine Stritch is a *little* bit stunty, but Bernadette is not stunt cast because it seems people involved (except Nunn way back) think she is an inspired choice...
Give me claws and a hunch, just away from this bunch.
#71

It's Official! Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch to Star in A LITTLE NIG

Posted: 6/7/10 at 9:34pm

Stunt casting has nothing to do with casting respectable actors in challenging roles on Broadway.

Stunt casting would be grabbing the latest reality show "winner" and throwing them in a wheelchair to give that wooden ring speech.

When Mary Martin toured in Hello, Dolly! and Annie Get Your Gun, was that stunt casting? When Patricia Morison replaced Gertrude Lawrence in "The King and I," was that stunt casting?

When Paris Hilton plays Desiree on Broadway, THAT's stunt casting.
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
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#73

It's Official! Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch to Star in A LITTLE NIG

Posted: 6/7/10 at 10:58pm

I hope the "something else" Peters mentions talking to Sondheim about was the Kennedy Center production of FOLLIES set for next summer.
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.
#74

It's Official! Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch to Star in A LITTLE NIG

Posted: 6/7/10 at 11:01pm

Best12bars nailed it, period.

Now, whether you think they are miscast is not the point. This isn't stunt casting.

I'm thrilled by this. And I enjoy that Stritch isn't perfect for this, knows it, and is determined to find a way. She is, after all, a fantastic actress.
#75

It's Official! Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch to Star in A LITTLE NIG

Posted: 6/7/10 at 11:12pm

When Paris Hilton plays Desiree on Broadway, THAT's stunt casting.

And Fredrik left her because she gave him scabies?
When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain. -Kad

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