Krakowski replacement in XANADU- Page 2

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 2/13/07 at 4:17pm

Hey, it sounds like fun. I've seen a ton of hysterical camp take-offs like the ones I mentioned above from Tweed and had a great time. If the tickets are around $30/40 or so, I'd be happy to check this out. But for $100? They must be high (and their investors must need some fat tax write-offs to finance this). This show belongs at PS 122 (or somewhere else south of 14th Street) for $25 a ticket.

Heck, I'm probably their target audience -- a theatre queen who loves good camp and remembers that dreadful movie -- but, there's no way in hell I'd pay a penny over $50 to see this. So, yes, I wish them luck -- it sounds like fun, but if they can't get ME to pay full price for this show, what hope do they have with the straight tourist families from around the country who buy most of the tickets these days?

[tellybox]

Posted: 2/13/07 at 4:25pm

"The only way I see SJP working well in this is if they cut her singing, and redesign the role to be for a horsefaced trollop.

Edit: Ok, harsh I know...but I really dislike the woman."

husk_charmer, this made me laugh so hard I nearly peed my pants!

[mattonstage]

Posted: 2/13/07 at 4:28pm

SJP herself says she's not a singer, she's an actress who can carry a tune.
Xanadu is a personal camp favorie of mine, and I was wondering if you've all read the libretto or heard how the music is being handled. Maybe it's been rewritten enough to make it viable as a good stage vehicle. Was anyone at any of the readings, or knows more about what's been changed?

[devonian.t]

Posted: 2/13/07 at 5:27pm

This is one of the strangest projects I have ever heard of. Maybe there's some really big coup we haven't that of which will pull this round from 'insane' to genius'? (I try to be optimistic)

Perhaps it will be high-camp comedy or a disco chamber piece that endears itself to lovers everywhere???

'The Rink' it ain't, that's for sure!

[FOAnatic]

Posted: 2/13/07 at 5:51pm

All this speculation has me all a-twitter!

[stella985]

Posted: 2/13/07 at 6:45pm

Well, I love SJP and I've seen her in a couple of plays and she's always been good. However, I've never seen her in a music.

I seriously doubt she'll do this though. She said in an interview she wouldn't do a play again until her son is older because it's just too hard to raise a kid and be on Broadway especially because you're usually working when you're kid is home and not at school. So, I doubt this is true.

Posted: 2/13/07 at 7:57pm

SJP herself says she's not a singer, she's an actress who can carry a tune .

Sarah is delusional. Maybe she should rewatch her horrendous performance from Once Upon a Mattress at the Tony Awards for a refresher on her singing skills. Also Kira should be beautiful, able to carry a tune and a skilled roller skater. I've yet to see Sarah display any of those qualities.

[danhattan]

Posted: 2/13/07 at 9:51pm

SJP would actually sell A LOT of tickets. I could this as a possiblity. They definitely need a star to play this role. I'm just glad they haven't mentioned Jenna Elfman!

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 2/13/07 at 9:59pm

Yeah, yeah. Actors and dancers can carry a tune. Actors and singers can move. Dancers and singers can play a scene.

But the real question is - can anyone of them roller skate?

And the follow up to that is - if they can, why weren't they cast in THE LITTLE MERMAID?

Do we really want Disney rejects in XANADU?

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 2/13/07 at 10:28pm

Anyone seen a cheesy. campy, terrible movie called
LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS?
Just saying, you never know.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 2/14/07 at 12:01am

Do we know how big the production is going to be? It seems it came out of nowhere, but the project suddenly took off. Is the set going to be big? Minimalist? Is there room for a big orchestra in the Helen Hayes?

Anyone have pictures of inside the Helen Hayes? I'd be interested to see how its laid out.

[cooperross]

Posted: 2/14/07 at 12:13am

'word on my street is Neely O'Hara will start Xanadu rehearsals right after "Tell Me Darling' closes.'

I heard they nixed Neely for Helen Lawson

[ILUVTOMG]

Posted: 2/14/07 at 12:44pm

'word on my street is Neely O'Hara will start Xanadu rehearsals right after "Tell Me Darling' closes.'

I heard they nixed Neely for Helen Lawson

No, Helen is replacing Eve Harrington in 'Footsteps on the Ceiling'

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 2/14/07 at 1:23pm

Anyone seen a cheesy. campy, terrible movie called
LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS?
Just saying, you never know.

That's a good point. The original, Yiddish-infused LITTLE SHOP film was nothing to write home about. But it was turned into an amazing successful Off-Broadway stage musical. Now given the fact that Off-Broadway is currently dead, Broadway would be the only option for a similar stage adaptation of XANADU.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 2/14/07 at 3:02pm

That was exactly my point. I remember seeing LITTLE SHOP back in the 80s at the 350 seat Orpheum Theatre in the East Village. If I recall correctly, I paid about $10 to $15 and had a great time -- it was fun, charming, campy little show that at that price had no problem attracting audiences and ran for 5 years. A few years ago, they tried to move it to Broadway and audiences balked at paying Broadway prices for what was basically the same charming campy little show (albeit with a Broadway budget and Broadway production values). Thus, it ended up running less than a year and was a flop.

ROCKY HORROR had a similarly rough time of it. Ideally, if the Off-Broadway market was better, it should have played at a large commercial house downtown where it could have had a better shot at keeping costs and ticket prices down and perhaps done a better job of attracting it's core audience (which was used to paying about $5 to see the film version of the show at midnight movie screenings around the country). Instead, they stuck it in a Broadway house where it spent most of its run on TKTS and surviving on discount tickets until it finally closed at a finacial loss.

Also look at the recent flop EVIL DEAD, yet another campy musical adaption of a bad 80s cult film. Had the show been mounted 20 years ago when commercial off-Broadway was still viable, it probably would have run for a couple of years (at about $15 a ticket). Today, audiences won't pay $70 to be splattered with fake blood at a campy silly downtown kind of show.

So, yes, I wonder about the prospects for a show like XANADU. It probably would have been a hit off-Broadway a couple of decades ago, but will today's audiences plunk down $100 a piece for a campy rollerskating spoof? We'll see.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 2/14/07 at 5:28pm

I think LITTLE SHOP... would have had a chance if it were better cast and directed.
Maybe XANADU should get Ellen Greene!

[Rotel1026]

Posted: 2/14/07 at 8:11pm

Well if SJP does either Girls Just Want to Have Fun or Sex and the City as musicals, then maybe I'd bite. But has anyone actually seen what she's done lately? The Family Stone was pretty bad but then Failure to Launch made it look like a classic. As bad as her judgement was when picking those two movies, maybe she would actually commit to doing Xanadu.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 2/14/07 at 8:14pm

Actually, The Family Stone is my favorite new holiday film since The Ref. Loved it.

[perfectliar]

Posted: 2/14/07 at 9:38pm

As bad as many people think The Family Stone was, it was not a stupid move on her part to accept the role... she was nominated for a Golden Globe.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 2/14/07 at 10:25pm

I forget who asked, but I wanna say that the "Chorus Line" film was filmed in the Helen Hayes...so you might save yourself 95 dollars and just watch a different musical (albiet a bad translation) in the Hayes.

[Zachary Goldfarb]

Posted: 2/14/07 at 11:06pm

The CHORUS LINE movie was shot at the Mark Hellinger.

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 2/14/07 at 11:16pm

As bad as many people think The Family Stone was, it was not a stupid move on her part to accept the role... she was nominated for a Golden Globe.

She also won a Golden Globe every year that SEX & THE CITY was on the air as well. The Hollywood Foreign Press loves her. Just because they threw a nomination her way doesn't make it a good movie or even a good performance on her part. I think all was pretty much set and done with her Hollywood career once SEX & THE CITY ended, and any hope she has at a future in acting will most successfully happen in New York theatre, whether it be in plays or musicals. Hollywood is always going to see her as Carrie Bradshaw, whereas the theatre community is willing to open its mind up based on her past theatrical credits pre-SEX & THE CITY.

Updated On: 2/14/07 at 11:16 PM

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 2/15/07 at 1:51am

No truth to the rumour.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 2/15/07 at 2:27am

This just proves that God exists and is merciful.