NORBERT'S ROLE IN "MIRACULOUS YEAR"

[LightOutOfDarkness]

Posted: 8/2/10 at 6:38pm

(btw I'm new to BWW.com - and first and foremost i am asserting myself as a diehard Norby fan!!!)

So this is mainly addressed to other fans or others who are anticipating the new HBO pilot "Miraculous Year". So the concept is.... How do you feel about this new role Norbert is taking?

My opinion: frankly I'm totally amped up to see NLB back on TV (I've missed him since The Deep End). His role as a "gay, self-destructive composer" both intrigues me yet makes me wary of the outcome. Either way i know I'm going to have an interesting reaction when I see Norby doing that bed scene. :P

Usually I like to contemplate WHY Norbert takes a role, and here's what I've come up with for him taking over Terry Segal:

1. "The tortured artist.": Remember the good ole Roger days in RENT? Norby should know a thing or two about tortured artists :) He wrote long ago "I know what it's like to be creatively
stuck, what it's like to want to hide away from the rest of the world." (and for what it's worth I just wanna mention I quoted that off the top of my head haha )

2. "Gay": -cough- Cabaret. That's all I have to say. Based on his role as Emcee I'm pretty sure Norby wont have a problem portraying a gay man (although I can't say the same about his wife, Michelle. XDD)

3. "Dark yet whimsical." I got this off a great
article about the pilot. The writer referred Terry Segal as dark yet whimsical, much like how
NLB was trying to be in The Deep End (personally, I thought he rocked in the episode, "An Innocent Man" but that's just me.) I'm
guessing NLB's been polishing up since January.

Other thoughts: I really think the show will get picked up! It'll be interesting to see what
Norbert does with such a complicated and conflicted character that has recently been compared to Steven Sondheim.

One more thing I wanna add: I found an article that cited something from the script that I find utterly..... Dare I say adorable? :3 here:

"It opens in Terry's townhouse, with the composer, who's in his 40s, snorting lines of cocaine off a "Wicked" playbill. "

Hold the phone? WICKED? could this be a shout out to his kids (who, many of you
Norbert-maniacs will recall, were COMPLETELY OBSESSED with his role as Fiyero)..... Or to wifey Michelle whom he met thanks to wicked??? Or is it really just a coincidence and i'm just going crazy? Lol.

Either way, I think it's cute. :3

[willep]

Posted: 8/2/10 at 9:08pm

Or it could simply be a cute reference to the fact that he was in Wicked...why does it have to go further and be for his wife or kids?

Either way, I am really looking forward to this.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 8/2/10 at 9:37pm

Usually I like to contemplate WHY Norbert takes a role, and here's what I've come up with for him taking over Terry Segal:

Who would turn down an HBO pilot, with a potential to become the next big hit?

Then again, that's what they said about ENRON

[Mildred Plotka]

Posted: 8/3/10 at 2:07am

You know all these minute details about Norbert but you don't know how to spell Stephen Sondheim's name?

Seriously?

[jv92]

Posted: 8/3/10 at 11:23am

It's Stephen with a "Ph", not Steven with a "V"

[Jon]

Posted: 8/3/10 at 1:33pm

The Wicked Playbill could also be a reference to the fact that, according to the rumor mill, the character is somewhat based on Stephen Schwartz.

Yes, I know, Schartz is married with children, so he couldn't POSSIBLY be gay!