MICHAEL RIEDEL : LOST LACHANZE She's got Donna Murphy syndrome — Page 4

I was using examples of things I had heard to show that Murphy is not alone in "attendance record" gossip.

Did you not read the post containing the word "documented"?

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Re: Donna Murphy/Wonderful Town. Don't forget that this started out as an Encores presentation with just 5 performances in a concert version. The producers were hoping to recreate their Chicago magic.

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"I saw Brooke Shields...she isn't have the actress Murphy is, and I think she was wrong in "Wonderful Town."

I would hardly say that Shields saved the show...she kept it going for a few months, but there was still a financial loss"

-Brooke was in the show for 4 months, she can't make a show recoup in 4 months. She did boost the sales though. If you think she was wrong for the show, then every critic and myself disagrees with you.

"Actually Shields only bumped attendance back into the 70s for a few weeks before the numbers returned to the 50s and 60s about a month into her run after all the hype and publicity subsided. Either way, the show bled money for most of its run due in large part to Murphy's absences. Audiences didn't want to pay to see her understudy -- who was on more than she was for several months -- so the show ended up losing its entire investment by the time it closed".

-The last month of Brooke's run, the numbers went down, but we also have to remember that during January of 2005, NYC was pretty much empty due to the blizzards. When I went to see the show with Donna, I didn't even know who she was, I think like myself, a lot of people didn't even care if she showed up or if it was an understudy, because Donna is not that known, she is not a household name, most regular people "non-BWWers" don't know who she is. Brooke on the other hand, is a big film and tv star. People went to see the show because of her exclusively.

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WannaBeAFoster: I think we are wasting space on this board. We aren't going to agree and I think people are tired of my rants in defense of Donna Murphy and your comments.

Admittedly, I can't produce any documents with the gossip I have heard about LuPone. But what makes Riedel such a trustworthy authority?

If you would like to continue this rather pointless discussion, please PM me, so we can stop wasting everyone else's time.


Muscle: I happen to disagree with you and the critics about Brooke Shields...it is possible for someone not to be impressed by Shields.

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Updated On: 8/4/06 at 01:37 PM

Celie is a very emotionally taxing role to play. I can understand LaChanze taking off matinee's. LaChanze can change her performance schedule to less than 8 show's a week.

Vocal rest my butt!! When Liza was having vocal problems, she just lip-synched. The show must go on!

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Murphy, Shields, understudy, whatever .........

The fact is WONDERFUL TOWN only broke even about 5 or 6 weeks at the beginning of the run after the rave Times review came out. Within a couple of months of opening, it lost money every week single week for the following 6 months -- whether that was due to Murphy's absences (and she missed all of the last 6 weeks of her run) or that the public wasn't interested in the show anymore, the fact is that attendance was in the 40s and 50s for most of her time in the show.

Shields joined the show the last three months of its run and even with her good reviews, it only broke even for 5 weeks during her entire run and lost money every other week. Neither one of them exactly set the box office on fire and while Shields did extend the run of the show, the numbers didn't improve THAT much and it still was a major flop with or without her.

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Updated On: 8/4/06 at 02:24 PM

I think Celie is way more vocally demanding than people are making it out to be. She has a couple big notes when she sings "You're not God - At all!" and she just has a lot of higher register stuff, just because she's not belting her head off Brooklyn style every two seconds, doesn't mean it's not vocally demanding, and to add to that, she has an added huskiness to her voice that makes it even harder to push those notes out.

"Well, SONG OF SINGAPORE was a little Off Broadway show, and that was before the age of the internet and Broadway gossip columns."

I have Broadway gossip columns from the 1920s and 30s from my Aunt's scrapbook. I didn't think SONG OF SINGAPORE was that old

The real problem with the LaChanze absences is that refunds are not made because her name does not appear above the title.

As for Broadway absences, Donna Murphy was out of HELLO AGAIN, Chenoweth was out of A NEW BRAIN both times I saw it, out ofYOU'RE A GOOD MAN CHARLIE BROWN, LuPone was out of EVITA. Patinkin was out of THE WILD PARTY.

Between 1949 and EVITA, I believe there were two replacement on for performances I attended....Thelma Ritter was out of NEW GIRL IN TOWN and Lucille Ball was out of WILDCAT. Ethel Merman, Mary Martin, Gwen Verdon, John Raitt, Alfred Drake, Barbara Cook, Robert Preston, etc., etc. NEVER missed a performance that I attended. Even Judy Garland appeared in all 11 performances of her shows that I attended l0(

I enjoyed the show with Murphy -- yes, she was in when I saw it in previews and I didn't go back to see Shields -- and thought she was very good, though I don't think it's a particularly great show. It felt very dusty and static to me and while Murphy worked hard, there just wasn't anything thrilling or exciting about the experience (in my original review, I said something to the effect that it didn't seem to have much warm blood running through its veins). Not an artistic flop, but nothing very special either in my book.

Interestingly, I have a copy of the Rosalind Russell tv version of the show that was filmed in 1958 and despite being transferred from an old, faded black & white 1950s kinescope, there was ten times more electricity and dynamism and verve coming from that tape (due mostly to Russell's tour de force performance) than anything I saw in the theatre during that revival.

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Updated On: 8/4/06 at 02:57 PM

That's a matter of opinion if WT was an artistic flop. . Not only Margo can answer this either.

I find WT FAR from an artistic flop. The critics raved about it BOTH times they reviewed it, with Murphy and Shields.

It had wonderful direction and choreography by Kathleen Marshall. I enjoyed the orchrestra on stage, and the set was just perfect.

For me my evening at WONDERFUL TOWN was a perfect night at the theatre.

The show is mindless fun, pure entertainment.

Updated On: 8/4/06 at 02:58 PM

I agree. I only saw it with Murphy, but it was after it opened. I thought it was very fun. I was not disappointed at all. I mean any Bernstein show is great to sit through just so you can hear the sound of NY. That's interesting enough to me. But Murphy really surprised me and I loved it. The only issue I had was Jennifer W. She couldn't sing it even after everything was lowered.