Lips Together..Has just been cancelled !!

I just got word from a friend who works at the Roundabout. Its Cancelled.

The whole production? I JUST stopped by the box office less than an hour ago and the girl there told me they didn't even know for sure if they were postponing yet.

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WOW.

I was JUST thinking that!

It's official:
http://www.myroundaboutblog.com/?p=1834

Considering the good press for The Glass Menagerie, does anyone think Roundabout might pull a fastie and try to get it on the Broadway boards? I wouldn't put it past them.

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I can hear the chorus of, "she'll (Mullally) never work again in this town" begin to simmer. Frankly I have never liked her.

I don't think it necessarily reflects bad on Mullally, or well, at least not in my opinion since I actually think it makes sense she didn't want to open with a show that was going to receive the same critical dismissal that YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN got and she cannot keep getting herself involved with that kind of show. She doesn't need to do stage, she does it because of her passion for the art form so why open a play that is clearly not headed the right direction? It also sounds that she had specific problems with the way he was portraying the character of the homophobic brother which implies she may have had issues with the way he approached the role and the way it might have come off on stage, it's a tricky character to play. And Joe Mantello is not completely off the hook since the Times does say that Mantello did have a "brusque" reaction to her pleads. Not to mention the fact that Mullally also seems to have a problem opening a Broadway show that she thought was likely to get trashed by critics when her mother is ill. Why bother?
And really, when was the last time Mantello got a good performance out of anyone? It sounds to me like Mullally did not want to hurt her reputation as a talented stage actress by appearing in yet another Joe Mantello fiasco after seeing the way he handled rehearsals and the actors. And something tells me the production wouldn't have been completely cancelled if there hadn't been more problems with the whole thing.

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I agree...something is not being said here. If Norbert Leo Butz could be pulled into a production within 2 weeks to replace Jeremy Piven, they could have easily gotten someone to replace Mullally...whether it had been a "name" performer or not. While I don't think it's condonable to break a contract...but if you are on a sinking ship, it definitely makes perfect sense to jump off of it.

Anyone who's seen Big Fan would know that getting a good performance out of Patton is indeed possible.

Patton's performance in Big Fan was Oscar-worthy. And I don't throw that around.

But Megan Mullally DEFINITELY looks like a bitch here. While I understand that she has no reason to stay in a train wreck of a production, it most likely wasn't going to be and to quit so soon just seems egregious.

But there's more to the story here. There was no reason to cancel the entire show.

But this ends up boding well for the Wingfelds over at the Laura Pels - with the tremendous notices that show got and the empty slot in the Roundabout schedule, it'll almost certainly make a quick jump uptown.

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Updated On: 3/25/10 at 10:33 PM

I like what Ray has said. I can definitely see her wanting to leave a production if she had disagreements with it, although in my opinion the duty of the actor is to trust the director, always. It's painful if you're criticized as an actor for merely following what the director tells you, but if you're going to be an actor you can't worry about that. I do agree, though, that there were probably other problems afoot aside from Mullally and Mantello disagreeing. Does anyone know how well advance sales were doing?

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I doubt Karen had outs in her contract. She is a beloved TV personality and clearly this whole production hinged on her.

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