NIGHT MUSIC officially recoups.....

[ljay889]

Posted: 1/6/11 at 3:11pm

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/146428-Broadways-A-Little-Night-Music-with-Bernadette-Peters-and-Elaine-Stritch-Recoups

Good news! Sondheim deserves hit productions.

[B3TA07]

Posted: 1/6/11 at 3:14pm

Congrats!

[jnthnxlent]

Posted: 1/6/11 at 3:43pm

I find it very hard to believe that the show has just really recouped. Does anyone know if this just happenned or they are announcing that it recouped at some point before closing..

[ljay889]

Posted: 1/6/11 at 3:44pm

The rumor was that they basically recouped by the time CZJ and Lansbury departed, but about another million or so had to be spent for the arrival of Peters and Stritch.
Updated On: 1/6/11 at 03:44 PM

[jnthnxlent]

Posted: 1/6/11 at 3:49pm

Oh ok that makes more sense. Its a shame then, would have liked to ahve seen the show to go on and profit for a while...

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 1/6/11 at 3:56pm

Thank Catherine Zeta Jones!

[everythingtaboo]

Posted: 1/6/11 at 4:23pm

Nice to see Bernadette and Elaine's gig end on a such a nice note.

Walked by the theatre today and saw a TV truck, I'm guessing they'll be taping tonight's performance for the archives?

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 1/6/11 at 4:33pm

I've never seen the crew who does the filming for the TOFT archive to arrive in a TV truck, so I would assume that that truck is there for something else.

[TheBatBoy]

Posted: 1/6/11 at 5:02pm

Do you think that they would be filming it like all of the other Sondheim shows? I would love to see this show preserved on tape. I know we don't have a choice with the concept, but it would great nonetheless.

[A NIce Macaroon]

Posted: 1/7/11 at 6:59am

No, they'e not going to film it. Would have been announced by now.

Love Peters and Stritch but why would I see them in Nunn's clueless revival?

[backwoodsbarbie]

Posted: 1/7/11 at 8:17am

^If you are a fan of Peters and Stritch then the show is worth seeing, regardless of your thoughts on the director or the production.

[DivaBrigader]

Posted: 1/7/11 at 9:11am

I was there last night...they were filming it for the Lincoln Center archives, not for PBS or anything like that.

[Will42]

Posted: 1/7/11 at 4:11pm

Do you know by any chance if they have ever filmed Catherine Zeta Jones' and Angela Lansbury's production, at least for the archives?

[binau]

Posted: 1/7/11 at 6:09pm

They filmed the show for the lincoln archives with Lansbury but CZJ's understudy was on at the time (Jayne Paterson?), strange.

Did they really film it again with Peters/Stritch for the archives? Has this happened before?

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 1/7/11 at 6:17pm

I was there last night as well (my first time seeing Bernadette and Elaine). I did notice a camera in the back of the orchestra by the time I was leaving.

I love Elaine Stritch with all my heart, but what a mess. If her performance last night is what they recorded for posterity...woof! Angela was a bright spot in a dull show. Elaine just dragged it down with her.

Also, had the show always been that long? I knew the pace was terrible, but I got out of the theatre by 10:20 (it was a 7:00 curtain).

[ahhrealmonsters]

Posted: 1/7/11 at 6:21pm

qolbinau- Yep, it happens quite often. I know they re-taped The Color Purple with Fantasia. They tend to re-film with celebrity replacements for some reason.

HeyMrMusic- I haven't seen it for a while, but yes. I saw a 2:00 matinee a few months ago (with the new cast), and it definitely went past 5. I think it ended around 5:10, and after everyone got out of the theatre, it was probably 5:30. With CZJ & AL, It was about under 3 hours. I went to an 8 pm performance, and it ended around 10:45-50.

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 1/7/11 at 6:31pm

Yes, that's what I thought. I thought it was just close to three hours, not over.

I've seen this production twice, each with a different cast, and still, the above-the-title leads were searching for their lines and lyrics (in a very obvious and bad way). I am glad that it recouped and that I had the chance to see Bernadette and Angela give beautiful performances. But that's about it. Congrats, Sondheim, on having a hit... twice!

[ljay889]

Posted: 1/7/11 at 6:37pm

I have seen both casts multiple times. CZJ and Angela had the show down to about 2 hours and 50-55 minutes. When I see them, Peters and Stritch usually finish at just about 3 hours. And when there were Broadway Cares speeches, everything finished at about 3 hours and 5 minutes. I must see them on good nights, because I've yet to spend 3 hours and 20 minutes with them, besides their first performance.

Updated On: 1/7/11 at 06:37 PM

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 1/7/11 at 7:59pm

I'm envious of you, ljay. I guess I always catch them on an off night it seems, or so people seem to tell me.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 1/7/11 at 8:46pm

I love Elaine Stritch with all my heart, but what a mess. If her performance last night is what they recorded for posterity...woof! Angela was a bright spot in a dull show. Elaine just dragged it down with her.

Funny, I've seen her performance multiple times and have never seen her drag the production down. I love her loose cannon approach to the character, and got more a sense of who Madame Armfeldt was in her past with Elaine than with Angela (who I also loved). Elaine's Liaisons might be slower, but she really tells that story better than either of the other Madames in this production.

And for the record, the only time I ever saw Elaine Stritch struggle extensively with her lines was her first night

I suspect a lot of people's dislike for her has more to do with her salty personality (especially compared with Angela, who's the grandmother we all wish we had)than with her performance.

And PS, the show has never clocked in at 3 hours and 20 minutes. The latest I've ever gotten out of the theater was 11:15...the night of the first preview. CZJ and Angela got the production to under 3 hours, while Bernadette and Elaine keep it just over 3 hours. When they were doing a Broadway Cares speech, it would go up to about 3 hours and 10 minutes. Updated On: 1/7/11 at 08:46 PM

[Pianist3912]

Posted: 1/7/11 at 8:58pm

Regardless of whether you like her performance or not, it's just a fact that Elaine has been struggling with her lines throughout this entire run. I've seen her 8-10 times since the new cast re-opened the show and there have almost always been issues with her memory of the lines. She even flubbed her first line that opens the show, one night with Sondheim in attendance.

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 1/7/11 at 10:39pm

Well, adamgreer, I have no reason to exaggerate the exact time I stepped out of the theatre. By the time I got from my seat to the street (no bathroom stop or anything), it was 10:20. The show probably started around the standard five minutes late. So it probably brought the show to three hours, ten minutes.

Last night, there wasn't a scene where Elaine wasn't grasping for her lines. In "Liaisons," there was one line in the second bridge that she was just not getting. The conductor slowed the tempo almost to a halt to allow her to get it, but she didn't. And whenever she did figure out her lines, she would mutter, "Oh my God" and it sounded like she was saying them on the verge of tears. Her "Where was I"s, or whatever she says to get back on track, were the only points in the song that rang true and that she committed to fully. And the wooden ring speech was incomprehensible because she could not remember the story and her pauses were too great for the audience to put the pieces together.

I highly respect Elaine Stritch and love her stage presence, but I couldn't get any sense of character in her performance last night. Not to mention, her lack of accent just adds to the inconsistency of the issue in this production. She was not acting last night; she was just trying to get through it. It was a shame. Again, I'm a huge fan of hers, but I was very disappointed.

I went with a friend who hadn't seen or heard the show before. He said the music is nothing special. I mentioned that they were taking many, many liberties with the melodies and their deliveries and that this show is often done with opera singers. I believe some of the actors have gotten way too comfortable and conversational in the songs to the point that their backphrasing sounds wrong with what the orchestra is playing.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 1/7/11 at 10:45pm

It ran longer the other night because it was stopped for a few minutes after Stritch's wheelchair got stuck in mid air while she was fighting the Green Goblin.

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 1/7/11 at 10:47pm

O duh, I forgot about that. Thanks, Jordan!

[Marianne2]

Posted: 1/7/11 at 11:07pm

I saw it on Tuesday night. To me, it seemed like a couple of times Bernadette had to help Elaine out with her lines.

Act 2 near the end seemed to start dragging a little. But, it started feeling really warm in the theatre, and I started getting a headache. So, maybe I would have thought differently if those two things didn't occur. I'm disappointed too because The Miller's Son is my favorite from the show.