Matthew Morrison Will Not Be Part of PBS South Pacific Broadcast- Page 2

[PauloFanClem]

Posted: 8/4/10 at 5:52pm

Aaron Lazar is GREAT, but we can only dream on that.

[Eris0303]

Posted: 8/4/10 at 5:54pm

I think a group trip to Little Night Music is in order just to see Aaron. Screw those other broads

[adamgreer]

Posted: 8/4/10 at 7:49pm

This is slightly upsetting, considering how awful Samonsky is. His arrogant Cable is so completely unlikeable that you end up feeling nothing at the end when he dies. Morrison, while far from great, was much better.

[mallardo]

Posted: 8/4/10 at 9:55pm

I have seen Samonsky in other things on the west coast and liked him - he was good in Tick Tick Boom. But I have to agree that his Cable is wrongheaded in almost every way. I can't believe Bartlett Sher likes his performance - but he must. Samonsky has probably now played the role more times than Morrison.

[Robert Taylor]

Posted: 8/4/10 at 10:14pm

I'm very excited Samonsky is getting this opportunity and think he is a great performer.

[Eris0303]

Posted: 8/4/10 at 10:19pm

I'm very excited Samonsky is getting this opportunity and think he is a great performer.

And it's your classic Broadway tale. From ensemble to featured.

[AHTC]

Posted: 8/4/10 at 10:32pm

As much as I preferred Matthew Morrison to Andrew Samonsky (and I really preferred Morrison, REALLY) I think its actually a good thing Matthew Morrison won't be Cable in the taping.

He is basically an international star now, and I think on a LIVE taping there would inevitably be a million screaming girls at every moment, which would throw off the balance of the story on the screen and do a disservice to the best broadway revival in years.

[backwoodsbarbie]

Posted: 8/4/10 at 10:42pm

AHTC, you actually make a valid point. Now that Morrison is such a star, I think it is better for him not to be in the recording as I too feel it would throw off the balance of the piece. Certain shows, like Chicago, etc can work with long breaks for applause, but not something like South Pacific that is meant to evoke a time and a place far away from the Broadway stage.

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 8/4/10 at 11:06pm

Sorry, and I know I'm going to be pillaged for this, but Matthew Morrison is NOT a great performer and is in no ways responsible for the effectiveness of this production of South Pacific. He's a so-so performer and nothing more. And, quite frankly, not all that much of looker, either. I has spoken!

[adamgreer]

Posted: 8/4/10 at 11:12pm

Somehow I don't think many (any) of the Matt Morrison fan girls are buying full price tickets to the closing week of South Pacific.

[AHTC]

Posted: 8/4/10 at 11:17pm

if he came back, adamgreer, and it was announced, I'm sure that mainstream outlets would pick it up, and YES, Glee fangirls would buy full price seats (in that instance)

[jimmycurry01]

Posted: 8/4/10 at 11:28pm

No, I'm with adamgreer on this one. I don't think many of his fan girls would be snatching up many tickets, full priced or other wise for this. A huge chunk of those fan girls are teenyboppers who simply cannot afford it, and the others would have to fight all of the normal theatre fans who actually want to be there to see the show before it closes for their tickets.

[ljay889]

Posted: 8/4/10 at 11:30pm

nd YES, Glee fangirls would buy full price seats (in that instance)

Doubt it. Most fangirls can only really afford rush and lottos.

[bwaylvsong]

Posted: 8/4/10 at 11:32pm

I really liked Samonsky, too. And I think he looks the part more than Morrison, who's almost too pretty for the "saxy lootellan."

[PauloFanClem]

Posted: 8/5/10 at 12:05am

But isn't "arrogance" the original reading of the role? I heard some critics say that why Hammerstein kills Cable is because, unlike Nellie, he stays being arrogance. That's why death is his karma.

But then again, weirdly, I heard people groaning during the scene when Emile announced that Andrew's Cable is dead.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 8/5/10 at 12:28am

Cable has to become a sympathetic if confused character for SOUTH PACIFIC to work. Part of Nellie's journey is seeing that Cable did fall in love with Liat despite his arrogance and misplaced bigotry.

[PauloFanClem]

Posted: 8/5/10 at 12:48am

Ahh, I see, but I did feel that Andrew's Cable is sympathetic, and he did love Liat, just that the presentation is different than Matthew's, the lack gentleness because of the role's nature.

[CockeyedOptimist2]

Posted: 8/5/10 at 1:13am

I haven't seen Matthew Morrison do the role, but have seen Andrew Samonsky do it 4 times. In most replacement roles, I can always see a certain coloring of the original performer in the role- an indelible mark that they leave for the next performer, no matter how different the two performers are. In this case, however, I could find no trace of what I imagine Matthew's Cable to be like. Probably an unfair assessment as I never saw Matthew, but I have to believe (from seeing him in other things) that he would have played the role with an eventual genuineness that would make him a sympathetic character, and I still don't think that is something that Andrew has been able to capture, as some other posters have also said.

I understand that Cable needs to be an arrogant character, especially at first, and I understand that he is tortured by the conflict between prejudice and love. The rage that the character expresses throughout the show is not misplaced or out of character, necessarily, but I believe that Andrew does not do a good job of conveying the arrogance or rage. It doesn't feel real or experienced. It feels like he overdoes it and it doesn't feel like a natural character. "This Nearly Was Mine" is my favorite song in the show (well, I guess there are too many wonderful ones to say that for sure) and during that scene between Cable and Emile, Andrew plays it so affectedly angry that it distracts me, takes me out of the action, and leaves me less able to enjoy my favorite song (though Paulo Szot can always rope me back in).

Perhaps I am not understanding the character or his motivations, but I have been disappointed with Andrew's Cable every time I have seen it. I'll be there for closing night and would have loved to see Matthew Morrison (though I know he was only planning on staying for the Broadcast). Oh well, I'll have to settle for him being back on Broadway as soon as possible after Glee ends.

[TheatreFreak05]

Posted: 8/5/10 at 2:39am

I attended a talk back with Morrison today and he said he was pissed that he can't come back because of his schedule.