Matthew Morrison Confirms He Will Be Back On Broadway This Season- Page 4

[Back Row]

Posted: 11/10/14 at 2:28pm

One of the more interesting items from the Times article was that Weinstein was negotiating with Jordan for another theater project. Is he lead producer for another show?

[Phillypinto]

Posted: 11/10/14 at 2:30pm

Maybe Bandstand or Ever After?

[rcwr]

Posted: 11/10/14 at 2:36pm

I hadn't seen the Tuck article until a minute ago. Hmmm. Carolee Carmello's role (Mrs du Maurier) in Finding Neverland is critical but not enormous. She's not part of the ensemble. I wonder if she could do Tuck and still then do Finding Neverland. I hope!

Super glad she's doing Tuck. I had tickets to see Carolee and AKB and Sadie Sink in Tuck in Boston years ago. Still curious why that production got cancelled.

[RW3]

Posted: 11/10/14 at 2:39pm

If you look on the Finding Neverland Facebook page, a lot of people aren't happy about the news.

[rcwr]

Posted: 11/10/14 at 2:44pm

The replies to FN's tweet aren't so positive either

https://twitter.com/NeverlandBway/status/531870779672387584

[Back Row]

Posted: 11/10/14 at 2:50pm

I was a bit surprised that the Morrison announcement preceded news on possible other cast changes, including the rumor of Kelsey Grammar joining the show. Now it looks like there is a chance that Carolee Carmello and Thayne Jasperson will not be involved either. Perhaps there are other changes to come and they had to announce Morrison because of the Macy's performance.

Is there any casting news for other upcoming shows? Is it possible that some of these performers could be landing somewhere else soon? What's the word on Dr. Zhivago? Any other shows come to mind?

[thebeautyis3]

Posted: 11/10/14 at 2:55pm

They'll get over it. I doubt a bunch of twitter and Facebook negativity by Jordan's legion of crazy fangirls will deter the casting.

[valeposh]

Posted: 11/10/14 at 3:06pm

I love how half a dozen Jordan and Newsies fans vocal on Twitter and Facebook make it look like the news has been poorly received. I like JJ, but it won't be the small number of fans who were rooting for him to change the fate of this show.
It's showbusiness, Jeremy knew very well that Matt was attached to the project from the very beginning, and he'll go on to to exciting things in his career.

[beautywickedlover]

Posted: 11/10/14 at 3:15pm

"I'd be very surprised if she doesn't get it. She was phenomenal in Cambridge."

"Yeah, if SHE gets replaced, THEN I'll be pissed!"

I'm just hoping there will not be a repeat of what happened when she was supposed to originate the role of Mary Poppins on Broadway. She was going to transfer to the Broadway production along with Gavin lee, but she and Cameron Mackintosh had a huge disagreement over her contract and schedule of when she could record a album. That's how Ashley Brown, who was terrific, got the part. Kelly and Mackintosh did, however, patch things up when she joined the Broadway cast in 2009.



Updated On: 11/10/14 at 03:15 PM

[Sunny11]

Posted: 11/10/14 at 3:21pm

Well Tv shows like American Idol thrive on the "controversy" over who (or not) gets eliminated every week and of course the eventual winner. Actually the producers actively encourages it, they want people to talk about and be invested in their product.

I am sure that Matthew will do a great job and will win Fans over from Opening night.

[Sunny11]

Posted: 11/10/14 at 3:21pm

Well Tv shows like American Idol thrive on the "controversy" over who (or not) gets eliminated every week and of course the eventual winner. Actually the producers actively encourages it, they want people to talk about and be invested in their product.

I am sure that Matthew will do a great job and will win Fans over from Opening night.

[rcwr]

Posted: 11/10/14 at 3:52pm

Of course no amount of protest will change the casting at this point. But I don't think it's fair to say that "Jordan's legion of crazy fangirls" are the only people who would have preferred to see Jordan do it. I would have loved to see Jordan get the job but I had no particular feelings about him before seeing FN and I'm not a fangirl now. I have a bunch of Cambridge friends who saw Jordan here and feel the same way, and none of us are fangirls. We just think he happened to do a phenomenal job.

Then again, we're not the people facebooking or tweeting at FN.

Updated On: 11/10/14 at 03:52 PM

[thebeautyis3]

Posted: 11/10/14 at 4:26pm

Well yeah. That's what I mean. If you're a fan of Jordan's, if you'd have liked to have seen him in the role. Fine. But I'm assuming that you're not one of the ones commenting and tweeting your OUTRAGE over how Morrison just STOLE Jordan's Tony. Those are the legion of fangirls I'm talking about.

[rcwr]

Posted: 11/10/14 at 4:41pm

Ah, yeah, thanks for clarifying. We're definitely not facebooking and tweeting, and we don't think anyone *stole* anything. We're not morally outraged; we're disappointed because we had an opinion about casting, artwise. (Also, we're not *newly* disappointed; we believed the rumors.)

Here's something I learned about fangirling during this show. When I saw FN in Cambridge, I noticed a bunch of JJ fangirls (of all genders) who went into the theater talking about what they wanted to ask him or get from him (like selfies) on the line afterwards; and then, on the line afterwards (which I didn't participate in, but sometimes watched; it was a casual lobby), they asked JJ exactly what they had planned to. It was in no way affected by or relevant to the work they just saw him do, or to anything about this particular show.

I saw this happen with other famous people at FN too (Carolee Carmello, Thayne Jasperson, Laura Michelle Kelly). I heard fans before the show and then afterwards, thrilled to their toes to have seen that person and squeeing at them but without a word of squee about the actual work they saw that night.

[porthos]

Posted: 11/10/14 at 5:40pm

Carolee should be able to do both, unless they drastically change the script, score, and blocking from the way it was in Cambridge.

Any word on who is replacing Michael McGrath as Mr. Frohman, as he's committed to On the Twentieth Century?

[rcwr]

Posted: 11/10/14 at 5:49pm

Porthos, I'll be thrilled if Carolee does both. No real word on who's playing Charles Frohman -- rumors of Kelsey Grammar, but I don't know from where.

On the Twentieth Century is lucky to have Michael McGrath. I look forward to that show's soundtrack.

[btales]

Posted: 11/10/14 at 5:54pm

Leslie Ann Warren said she's returning to B'way this spring in a musical. She could be replacing Carolee.

[OlBlueEyes]

Posted: 11/10/14 at 6:32pm

If anyone is interested in a very small return of Matthew to the New York stage, he and Kelli O'Hara will be performing holiday songs old and new at Carnegie Hall on December 19th and 20th with the New York Pops.

[VernonGersch]

Posted: 11/10/14 at 8:34pm

Jeremy was great in the role and I'm glad I had the chance to see it first hand.

Regardless of this Biz Called Sho - he was fantastic

[Back Row]

Posted: 11/10/14 at 9:15pm

"I love how half a dozen Jordan and Newsies fans vocal on Twitter and Facebook make it look like the news has been poorly received. I like JJ, but it won't be the small number of fans who were rooting for him to change the fate of this show."

The fate of this show will be determined by its ability to overcome the resentment that seems to be building toward it with every Harvey Weinstein move. The theater professionals who have been cast aside as a result of those moves are not without their own bases of support, and Jeremy Jordan's fan base is just the latest to add themselves to the list of those who will not be supporting the show. I think most people agree that this show will have a tough row to hoe with the New York critics, and even Weinstein knows that its chances of success will probably have to come as a result of great word of mouth and some clever marketing. The critics are not likely to cooperate. With all the bridges that Weinstein has burned along the way, great word of mouth may be hard to come by. This show is going to need all the positive mojo it can muster, and they are not off to a good start.





Updated On: 11/10/14 at 09:15 PM

[RW3]

Posted: 11/10/14 at 11:05pm

I've been listening to some audios, while imaging what Matthew would sound like singing. Personally, I think he could do a really good job with the score.

[nsguy45]

Posted: 11/11/14 at 8:06am

Fortunately, there is an excellent quality bootleg video recording in circulation that preserves Jeremy Jordan's wonderful performance in Finding Neverland. In no way will Matthew Morrison match Jeremy's singing, not going to happen. If Harvey Weinstein honestly believes a mass of "Glee" fans are going to invade Broadway and purchase tickets for this show just because Matthew Morrison is starring in it, then he's in for a shock. Jeremy posted on his Twitter page "And another door opens", which I'm assuming pertains to Morrison having been signed for Broadway. Jeremy will be back on Broadway soon, I'd give anything to see him in a musical with Aaron Tveit.

[bwayrose7]

Posted: 11/11/14 at 9:47am

I know I should be able to separate an actor's past performances from a current one, but to be honest, Glee has kind of ruined Matthew Morrison for me. Before that, I thought he was a charming (albeit slightly bland) leading man type with a nice voice. Now I can't get past how unlikeable and verging on creepy his character on Glee has become. Even if Jeremy Jordan wasn't going to continue (which is a pity), I would have preferred someone other than Morrison to take over.

[thebeautyis3]

Posted: 11/11/14 at 10:14am

See, I thought Morrison was perfect casting specifically for that reason. He's shown himself to be great at playing a creeper (not his fault, of course, Ryan Murphy gave him terrible material to work with), which fits the real Barrie pretty well.

And I hate Weinstein as much as the next guy, but I think he's a pretty smart guy (look at how many people he has won Oscars for). He knows that Morrison is not going to draw sold-out crowds, but he also knows that Morrison is going to attract a lot more publicity than Jeremy Jordan. I can already hear the Entertainment Weekly reels in my head. "Glee star Matt Morrison takes on a new role..." etc. In that respect, Morrison is going to attract a lot more notice for the show than Jordan ever would.

This opens the door for Jordan to do Ever After with his wife this spring, which I don't think he'd complain about. Even if he doesn't do that, he'll find something soon. I'm sure he was never under the illusion that he would be bringing the show to Broadway.

I'd prefer to see someone like Christian Borle or Brian d'Arcy James play the role of Barrie over Jordan and Morrison. But whatever. I think the outrage and threatens of boycott are a little ridiculous.

[gleek4114]

Posted: 11/11/14 at 2:12pm

^ Brian would be a dream!