Haven Burton is absolutely perfect casting (much better than Jeanna de Waal, who isn't funny in the least).
I guess this means the original plan for Annaleigh Ashford to return after finishing MASTERS OF SEX is no longer happening.
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.
Just saw Jeanna de Waal last week and she was terrific. Some of you must be referring to a different Jeanna de Waal cause the one I saw did a great job.
I agree, I loved Jeanna de Waal. She was playing it differently than Annaleigh, sure, but she was fantastic. Funny and in great voice.
As far as Haven...I saw her as Maureen in Rent a long time ago (she was the understudy) and found her completely unfunny and her voice was pretty strained and cracked once or twice. A friend saw her in Violet when she went on for Sutton though and said she was pretty great so hopefully she's improved since Rent.
Haven Burton was the best Elle Woods I ever saw, mostly because she was the only one (out of Laura Bell Bundy, Becky Gulsvig, Bailey Hanks, Kate Rockwell, and an understudy from the tour whose name escapes me) who seemed to get that the character wasn't an idiot.
She was also a significantly better Fiona than Sutton Foster was.