Michael McGrath, Hank Azaria, Leslie Kritzer and Megan Hilty Will Be "The Honeymooners"

[AKarp2013]

Posted: 9/22/14 at 5:57pm

This sounds exciting...

[South Florida]

Posted: 9/23/14 at 6:44am

This is a beloved show, hope it does well.

[tazber]

Posted: 9/23/14 at 9:58am

Whatever happened to Menken's version?

I thought his score was really excellent.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 9/23/14 at 10:02am

I love Meagan Hilty. But she's not Trixie. Maybe she accepted the role so she could have time with her new baby, but it's a secondary role and Meagan needs a starring role.

[macnyc]

Posted: 9/23/14 at 11:22am

Maybe they'll beef up the Trixie role. And I suspect the threatened wife-abuse ("Bang, zoom, straight to the moon, Alice!") will not go over so well for modern audiences.

[dreaming]

Posted: 9/23/14 at 11:30am

That part always offended me, too. (Part of me wondered why the heck she stayed with him.) Also, I think it's very hard to have anyone try to be the "Great One"-Gleason-as Ralph. (It also struck me as odd how none of these people had children during the 'baby boom' era.)

[Gothampc]

Posted: 9/23/14 at 11:31am

No matter how much they beef up the Trixie role, Leslie Kritzer will still be billed above Megan. Unless her agent gets "And Megan Hilty as Trixie".

[chrisampm2]

Posted: 9/23/14 at 11:40am

It's a workshop. Hilts won't have to worry too much about her billing or time spent away from her baby.

[mamaleh]

Posted: 9/23/14 at 12:25pm

Re the "bang, zoom" stuff: It's all bluster, Ralph Kramden trying to convince himself that he's "king of the castle," as stated in one episode of the series. But he knows he would never hurt Alice--and so does she. Still, even comic references are not acceptable today, so I'm sure they'll come up with a suitable alternative.

Updated On: 9/23/14 at 12:25 PM

[LisaLB]

Posted: 9/23/14 at 12:25pm

Michael McGrath is fantastic in Finding Neverland at ART. I had hoped he would transfer with the show. Fingers crossed...

[macnyc]

Posted: 9/23/14 at 12:26pm

Megan would make a good Alice. I wonder why the casting went the way it did.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 9/23/14 at 1:10pm

"Re the "bang, zoom" stuff: It's all bluster, Ralph Kramden trying to convince himself that he's "king of the castle," as stated in one episode of the series. But he knows he would never hurt Alice"

IMO, part of that was the brilliance of Audrey Meadows. You knew that Ralph wouldn't hurt Alice because Alice was tough enough to put him in his place. The comedy comes out of the fact that she is just as brash as he is. She never cowers from him, she's always up in his face.

[macnyc]

Posted: 9/23/14 at 1:28pm

^^^ So true! She was amazing.

[Wilmingtom]

Posted: 9/23/14 at 2:00pm

I saw a workshop of a Honeymooner's musical back in the early 80s. You don't think this is the same one, do you? I can't recall who the writers were but Ray DeMattis played Ralph and had a terrific, heartfelt song, something along the lines of "Everyone's Not Like You, Alice." I can't imagine this going anywhere. The series only ran one season almost 60 years ago and the 2005 moive went belly up. The title just doesn't have much heat anymore.

[yankeefan7]

Posted: 9/23/14 at 2:02pm

Plus, even with all the bluster you knew they both loved each other very much. Remember how many times he tells her "Baby, you are the greatest" and then they have a big kiss.

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 9/23/14 at 3:21pm

"The series only ran one season..."

Well, not entirely correct. There were 39 half-hour episodes created in 1956-57, that's true. (Imagine creating 39 episodes in one season today!!)

But all during the many seasons of The Jackie Gleason Show starting in 1952, there were segments devoted to the Honeymooners, first with Jane Meadows as Alice, and later with Sheila MacRae. There was even a musical Honeymooners segment each episode that I vividly remember watching as a kid (we're talking during the 1966-1970 TV seasons). So the characters lasted on TV for nearly 18 years in one form or another.

Plus, never underestimate the power of Baby Boomer bucks to support a show that touches our shared nostalgia synapses.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 9/23/14 at 3:30pm

"Plus, never underestimate the power of Baby Boomer bucks to support a show that touches our shared nostalgia synapses."

So true. There's still an I Love Lucy show out there running. Which personally I think is harder to pull off because nobody ever gets Lucille Ball right.

And of course nobody is saying the "A Christmas Story" musical is dead. In fact, it got a spot on the Tony Awards.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 9/23/14 at 3:41pm

Elaine Stritch played one performance of Trixie on an episode of Cavalcade of Stars
Link

[Wilmingtom]

Posted: 9/23/14 at 3:48pm

^ So true, and of course it's been in constant reruns ever since. But I still don't sense much heaft from the title and boomers alone do not a hit make. Then again, if it's fantastic and gets great reviews, who knows? But I won't be holding my breath.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 9/23/14 at 4:05pm

It also struck me as odd how none of these people had children during the 'baby boom' era.

el oh el

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 9/23/14 at 4:27pm

Musicals based on TV shows????? Oooh, tell me more!

[darquegk]

Posted: 9/24/14 at 8:02am

If this is the version I read a script of, it has the clever conceit that the TV show is allegedly based on the events of the musical, not the other way around.

[madlibrarian]

Posted: 9/24/14 at 2:22pm

Fusspot report: that Playbill article calls "The Honeymooners" a CBS program. So it was, eventually, but it actually started on DuMont!