Megan Mullally To Return To Broadway In GUYS & DOLLS? — Page 2

"There's definitely talk of that, actually, that particular thing. But nothing's been nailed down," Mullally said.

This is what Mullally says, she says "that particular thing," so yes, she is referring to GUYS & DOLLS.
Besty, I do remember there being some discussion about how the clips didn't really show the energy of the performances live. I didn't get to see it so can't speak to that, but I do have good friends whose opinion I trust very much who said she nailed the role.
Jane Krakowski wanted to do it very badly around the time she wasn't sure if 30 ROCK would be renewed for a second season. I believe she still wanted to do it even while filming the show, but ultimately they realized the schedule would be impossible to work out. I think it's a role she loved playing, but now she has another pilot for FOX (which sounds great so I hope it gets picked up), so I think that ship has sailed. It's a real shame she didn't get to do it on Broadway, I have a recording of her doing it in London and it's by far my favorite interpretation of the role bar none. She earned that Olivier.
Speaking about the last revival, say what you want about Mary Testa and Titus Burgess but they actually entertained the audience. They of course had to throw out all characterization out the window, but there was nothing they could do. It was an awful awful awful revival, and they clearly knew that, so they figured they'd stand out by actually trying to make the audience have fun. And they really did provide a breath of fresh air to one of the worst productions of a classic musical I've seen on Broadway.

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I remember when the producers released their wish list for the revival: Patrick Wilson as Sky, Anne Hathaway as Sarah Brown, Debra Messing as Miss Adelaide, and John C. Reilly as Nathan. Then, the writer's strike happened and all of the sudden everyone was unavailable. Instead, we ended up with Craig Bierko, Kate Jennings Grant, Lauren Graham, and Oliver Platt *shudder*

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You might be right, AC. I do remember around that time she was heavily mentioned for SOUTH PACIFIC (along with a couple other names), so I wouldn't be surprised if she was also one of the names in the mix for Sarah. I do wonder how many people turned them down for them to end up with the people they ended up with.

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What was so terrible about the recent revival? (I did not see it)

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Yes. Her schtick carried over onto the Tony performance.

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The night I saw her she didn't get the laughs. I mean, she got the easy laughs written into the script (not even she could suck the fun out of GUYS & DOLLS), but her "Adelaide's Lament" wasn't funny or filled with pathos or anything. It just kinda sat there, as if it were just another song, rather than one of the best songs ever written in musical theatre. For me, the worst part about her performance is how nothing she was in the role. She wasn't funny, she wasn't smart, she wasn't sad, she wasn't anything. She just sat there, sang the songs, said the lines, and nothing happened. Her line readings were predictable, her singing had no personality, and if it weren't for her costumes, I wouldn't have been able to tell her apart from the chorus girls. She had no business being on stage.
The entire revival was poorly staged and had no real direction. The dancing was boring, the staging uninspired, and it just dragged and dragged and dragged. The worst part was that the leads were playing the roles as if it was a community theatre production (actually, community theatre actors might have brought passion to their parts). Bierko and Kate Jennings Grant were sweet at times, and at least you believed them as a couple--Platt and Graham looked as if they had just met a couple seconds before coming onto the stage. Platt was unfunny, terribly unfunny. Graham was the definition of bland.
Then you had Mary Testa and Titus Burgess having a banquet with the scenery, which turned off many (I thought it was a much needed jolt of energy).

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Updated On: 4/22/14 at 03:10 PM

Brantley captured everything wrong with the production perfectly:

Nearly all the performers — from stars to chorus — approach their roles eagerly but diffidently, as if they would like to get to know the characters they play but are afraid of being rejected. Such tentativeness creates the impression of an entire cast of understudies, who have the technical qualifications for their parts but no natural affinity.

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I didn't hate the last revival as much as other people did, but in hindsight I can definitely see it was a mess. The worst thing about it was Oliver Platt though...he was horribly miscast and looked uncomfortable every time he was onstage, as though he would rather be anywhere else. He also, as others have said, had zero chemistry with Lauren Graham. I'm in the camp that thought Mary Testa was hilarious; if nothing else, she went balls to the wall with the character, which is something that couldn't really be said about most of the other people in the cast.

You know what really evokes 1950's era Golden Age of Broadway? A production of Guys & Dolls whose set was 70% projections! It's easier to just strike it from the record. This way we can reuse the beautiful artwork wasted on that hideous production.