LOVE STORY stars announced to lead LOVE LETTERS National Tour!
#2
Posted: 2/20/15 at 6:22pm
Had this been the original cast on Broadway, the show might still be running.
Poster Emeritus
#3
Posted: 2/20/15 at 6:29pm
Uh...doubtful.
"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”
~ Muhammad Ali
#4
Posted: 2/20/15 at 6:33pm
No, I actually think the two of them together may have sold some tickets on Broadway.
#5
Posted: 2/20/15 at 6:57pm
Had this been the original cast on Broadway, the show might still be running.
Considering that the production featured rotating casts, this line of reasoning makes no sense. Why would it "still be running" in February, with a different cast, if Macgraw and O'Neal opened the show in September?
No, I actually think the two of them together may have sold some tickets on Broadway.
They would have done the kind of business Bergen and Alda did: respectable, but by no means earth-shattering. There just isn't a huge audience that's willing to pay Broadway prices to see this show, no matter who's starring.
Considering that the production featured rotating casts, this line of reasoning makes no sense. Why would it "still be running" in February, with a different cast, if Macgraw and O'Neal opened the show in September?
No, I actually think the two of them together may have sold some tickets on Broadway.
They would have done the kind of business Bergen and Alda did: respectable, but by no means earth-shattering. There just isn't a huge audience that's willing to pay Broadway prices to see this show, no matter who's starring.
#6
Posted: 2/20/15 at 7:21pm
There's also the slight problem that he can barely act and she...well, she's Ali McGraw.
"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”
~ Muhammad Ali
#7
Posted: 2/20/15 at 7:24pm
I can't even imagine how bad this will be.
The only review of a show that matters is your own.
#8
Posted: 2/20/15 at 7:27pm
This will be perfect. Neither one can act ... though Ms McGraw brings acting down to the Pia Zadora level.
#9
Posted: 2/20/15 at 7:42pm
LarryD2, I 100% agree with you as to how it's box office prospects would've been with them. OK, but not amazing.
#10
Posted: 2/20/15 at 7:52pm
Truthfully? I think they'll pull it off. I re-read the play recently, and beauty that is, lends itself to a certain stylization of performance that reading provides. Their ages are poignant, the audience unavoidably will bring the film history in with them, and it could be charming, if not exactly the return of Dewhurst and Robards. It doesn't have to be at that level to work, which is why the play itself is such a gem. MacGraw might be surprisingly right. Oddly enough, with her background, it's a good fit. She's a very bright, highly educated woman, acting skills aside (she entered modeling with a degree from Wellesley, after all.)
"I'm a comedian, but in my spare time, things bother me." Garry Shandling
#11
Posted: 2/20/15 at 8:09pm
Back in the '70s, Maggie Smith was magnificent in a superlative production of Private Lives, first in London and then on Broadway (see my avatar). A few years later Liz and Dick, then at the height of both their tabloid notoriety and substance problems, gave the show a try to great box office and tepid reviews. The critics complained that Taylor couldn't handle Coward's exquisite dialogue, which probably explained the sad abridgement of the text and the addition of much lame slapstick.
After Broadway, they did a short tour ending in LA, where Dame Maggie was shooting a film. Asked if she would go see Liz as Amanda, Smith replied "I don't have the strength."
After Broadway, they did a short tour ending in LA, where Dame Maggie was shooting a film. Asked if she would go see Liz as Amanda, Smith replied "I don't have the strength."
Updated On: 2/21/15 at 08:09 PM
#12
Posted: 2/20/15 at 8:56pm
How did this not recoup on Broadway?
#13
Posted: 2/20/15 at 9:54pm
As stunt casting goes, it has a certain tang.
True, she is the world's worst actress. Still, I agree with Auggie, this just might surprisingly work.
True, she is the world's worst actress. Still, I agree with Auggie, this just might surprisingly work.
#14
Posted: 2/20/15 at 10:17pm
A bloated abusive alcoholic known more for his family troubles than his acting ability and a horrendous actress. Sounds like box office gold. They were both more popular in the 70s for their beauty and charisma than anything they ever did on screen.
This would be like staging Love Letters in 40 years with Juliana Hough and Shia LaBoeuf
This would be like staging Love Letters in 40 years with Juliana Hough and Shia LaBoeuf
"The sexual energy between the mother and son really concerns me!"-random woman behind me at Next to Normal
"I want to meet him after and bang him!"-random woman who exposed her breasts at Rock of Ages, referring to James Carpinello
#15
Posted: 2/20/15 at 10:17pm
so ****ing lame, SO SO SO lame.
#16
Posted: 2/20/15 at 10:33pm
I personally think it's inspired casting. I'm shocked that people are putting down a show before it even starts. (verbal irony: It's a sort of sport in this board to do such a thing.) I was a mere child when "Love Story" was in the movie theatres. There are plenty of people of a certain age who remember both actors, in their prime and beyond. I'm not sure if I'd see this play, but best of luck to them.
"Noel [Coward] and I were in Paris once. Adjoining rooms, of course. One night, I felt mischievous, so I knocked on Noel's door, and he asked, 'Who is it?' I lowered my voice and said 'Hotel detective. Have you got a gentleman in your room?' He answered, 'Just a minute, I'll ask him.'" (Beatrice Lillie)
#17
Posted: 2/20/15 at 10:40pm
I'm of the same age. It is inspired casting ... but Ali Mcgraw CANT ACT. Her performance in Love Story is laughable.
#18
Posted: 2/20/15 at 10:53pm
I think a lot of people who would enjoy this pairing are dead. No offense. Much like the audience for the revival of Love Letters.
"The sexual energy between the mother and son really concerns me!"-random woman behind me at Next to Normal
"I want to meet him after and bang him!"-random woman who exposed her breasts at Rock of Ages, referring to James Carpinello
#19
Posted: 2/20/15 at 11:11pm
Who in the world would go to this? Alda and Bergen had a solid following into recent times, with their TV series, but who the hell cares about Ali and Ryan at this point? Yes, I remember them. No, I'm not dead, but hopefully discerning enough to know garbage.
#20
Posted: 2/20/15 at 11:13pm
"One man's garbage is another person's treasure." Time will tell whether this casting decision will be a successful one.
"Noel [Coward] and I were in Paris once. Adjoining rooms, of course. One night, I felt mischievous, so I knocked on Noel's door, and he asked, 'Who is it?' I lowered my voice and said 'Hotel detective. Have you got a gentleman in your room?' He answered, 'Just a minute, I'll ask him.'" (Beatrice Lillie)
#21
Posted: 2/20/15 at 11:20pm
it bombed on Broadway with some pretty big names, I doubt these two will sell it any better on tour.
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.
#23
Posted: 2/21/15 at 8:28am
I wonder if any of their original chemistry from "Love Story" remains....
#24
Posted: 2/21/15 at 8:43am
I can't believe I'm posting a 2nd time about something I could not care less about, but folks: we're talking a limited road tour. In places like Dallas, they could well attract mid-boomers (the film opened when I was a freshman in college; my demo still spends money. I think saying most people who might be interested are dead is rather insulting to boomers, who are hardly geriatric, but never mine.) This is smart road casting. It's not Broadway. It's the kind of thing stock does well, and in the venues selected, might work. I mean, "Legends" went out with the Dynasty stars. We're not talking a month at the Beaumont.
"I'm a comedian, but in my spare time, things bother me." Garry Shandling
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