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REDWOOD Previews

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WldKingdomHM
#50REDWOOD Previews
Posted: 1/27/25 at 3:58pm

Claudia Draper said: "Does IDINA have an alternate or understudy listed for this show? Given the marquee has her namebigger than the title, I assume the show will just be cancelled.anyone know?"

Did you check the redwood website ?

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EDSOSLO858
#51REDWOOD Previews
Posted: 1/27/25 at 3:58pm

Claudia Draper said: "Does IDINA have an alternate or understudy listed for this show? Given the marquee has her namebigger than the title, I assume the show will just be cancelled.anyone know?"

Her standby is Jessica Phillips.


Well, I’ll be. That bird really did it.

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binau
#52REDWOOD Previews
Posted: 1/27/25 at 4:12pm

Wow I didn't realise! I always thought Jessica Phillips sounded like Idina when she did next to normal. 


"You can't overrate Bernadette Peters. She is such a genius. There's a moment in "Too Many Mornings" and Bernadette doing 'I wore green the last time' - It's a voice that is just already given up - it is so sorrowful. Tragic. You can see from that moment the show is going to be headed into such dark territory and it hinges on this tiny throwaway moment of the voice." - Ben Brantley (2022) "Bernadette's whole, stunning performance [as Rose in Gypsy] galvanized the actors capable of letting loose with her. Bernadette's Rose did take its rightful place, but too late, and unseen by too many who should have seen it" Arthur Laurents (2009) "Sondheim's own favorite star performances? [Bernadette] Peters in ''Sunday in the Park,'' Lansbury in ''Sweeney Todd'' and ''obviously, Ethel was thrilling in 'Gypsy.'' Nytimes, 2000

Claudia Draper
#53REDWOOD Previews
Posted: 1/27/25 at 4:19pm

Given the marquee has IDINA’s name bigger than the title, I assume the show would just be cancelled.. I think must people going to this show would want a refund..

JSquared2
#54REDWOOD Previews
Posted: 1/27/25 at 4:26pm

Claudia Draper said: "Given the marquee has IDINA’sname bigger than the title, I assume the show would just be cancelled.. I think must people going to this show would want a refund.."

 

Yes of course they will offer refunds.  No it's unlikely that they will cancel performances.  They still have to pay just about everyone else in the building -- plus they'll be saving Idina's salary for those performances.

Kimbo
#55REDWOOD Previews
Posted: 1/27/25 at 5:25pm

JSquared2 said: "Claudia Draper said: "Given the marquee has IDINA’sname bigger than the title, I assume the show would just be cancelled.. I think must people going to this show would want a refund.."



Yes of course they will offer refunds. No it's unlikely that they will cancel performances. They still have to pay just about everyone else in the building -- plus they'll be saving Idina's salary for those performances.
"

I don’t think that’s how Broadway works.  Has anyone ever heard of producers saving money because they dock the star their salary if they get sick?

 

Ensemble1698878795
#56REDWOOD Previews
Posted: 1/27/25 at 7:07pm

Idina’s performance on the Today show did not inspire a ticket purchase. If she wasn’t in the role this show would not be coming to Broadway. Yikes.

Ensemble1665759202
#57REDWOOD Previews
Posted: 1/27/25 at 7:30pm

Nice performance! I kinda like this song more than I like the other one they've been using to promote the show. Will get tickets to see this for sure, but will probably wait until after it opens so that the wrinkles get ironed out.

CJRochester
#58REDWOOD Previews
Posted: 1/27/25 at 7:52pm

Is "In the Leaves" the finale? The song certainly has that sort of rousing feeling. 

MezzA101
#59REDWOOD Previews
Posted: 1/28/25 at 9:32am

Idina Menzel Played Elphaba and Elsa. Now She’s Going Out on a Limb.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/28/theater/idina-menzel-redwood-broadway.html?unlocked_article_code=1.sk4.D5B6.cUETyml4-1k4

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Auggie27
#60REDWOOD Previews
Posted: 1/28/25 at 1:23pm

I’m a sucker for any musical built from the ground up that isn’t a bio juke. If/Then was flawed but felt genuinely contemporary, and the score has lovely highlights. If this lands with similar elements, then it certainly has a shot. It’s hard to ascertain if the texture is more new age meditation or ecological fantasy; or both. But Menzel is a force on stage, and sells seats because she delivers. 


"I'm a comedian, but in my spare time, things bother me." Garry Shandling

JSquared2
#61REDWOOD Previews
Posted: 1/28/25 at 2:18pm

Kimbo said: "JSquared2 said: "Claudia Draper said: "Given the marquee has IDINA’sname bigger than the title, I assume the show would just be cancelled.. I think must people going to this show would want a refund.."



Yes of course they will offer refunds. No it's unlikely that they will cancel performances. They still have to pay just about everyone else in the building -- plus they'll be saving Idina's salary for those performances.
"

I don’t think that’s how Broadway works. Has anyone ever heard of producers saving money because they dock the star their salary if they get sick?


Sorry doll -- but that IS how things work.  Actors being paid overscale (especially those making five figures per performance) are docked for any shows they miss.  

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BrodyFosse123
#62REDWOOD Previews
Posted: 1/28/25 at 2:43pm

Same with TV work. You only get paid for the episodes you appear in. Even if you’re the lead of a series but have to miss a few episodes to film another committed project, you aren’t going to be paid for the episodes you weren’t on. Most who are in this dilema, try to schedule their other committed projects for their off days and weekends. No one wants to see their pay get cut regardless how big it is to the average person.

As mentioned above, regardless who you are, you miss a performance, you ain’t gonna get paid for that missed performance. If you’re an an understudy already playing another role, you get a bump in your weekly check for whatever performance you understudied. Actors are not on salary, folks. 

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binau
#63REDWOOD Previews
Posted: 1/28/25 at 3:18pm

"I don’t think that’s how Broadway works.  Has anyone ever heard of producers saving money because they dock the star their salary if they get sick?"

I can't speak for all shows or all circumstances but I have heard that this can be indeed a contractual arrangement with high-paying stars as others have mentioned. 


"You can't overrate Bernadette Peters. She is such a genius. There's a moment in "Too Many Mornings" and Bernadette doing 'I wore green the last time' - It's a voice that is just already given up - it is so sorrowful. Tragic. You can see from that moment the show is going to be headed into such dark territory and it hinges on this tiny throwaway moment of the voice." - Ben Brantley (2022) "Bernadette's whole, stunning performance [as Rose in Gypsy] galvanized the actors capable of letting loose with her. Bernadette's Rose did take its rightful place, but too late, and unseen by too many who should have seen it" Arthur Laurents (2009) "Sondheim's own favorite star performances? [Bernadette] Peters in ''Sunday in the Park,'' Lansbury in ''Sweeney Todd'' and ''obviously, Ethel was thrilling in 'Gypsy.'' Nytimes, 2000

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carolinaguy
#64REDWOOD Previews
Posted: 1/28/25 at 3:38pm

Doesn't the union contract provide at least nominal sick leave coverage? Wasn't that one of the things that was new to the 2022 deal?


Just remembering you've had an "and" When you're back to "or" Makes the "or" mean more than it did before

JSquared2
#65REDWOOD Previews
Posted: 1/28/25 at 4:38pm

carolinaguy said: "Doesn't the union contract provide at least nominal sick leave coverage? Wasn't that one of the things that was new to the 2022 deal?"

 

Yes, actors earning scale (and up to $6,000) get a certain number of paid sick and personal days on a sliding scale based on their salary.  Actors earning over $6,000 are not entitled to paid sick days or paid personal days.  That figure may have gone up slightly in the last contract negotiation. So if your Star is making $50,000 a week -- the producers save $6,250 for each performance that the Star misses.  Also, very often for A+ list Stars (like Jackman, Midler, Groban, etc.), the producer will likely have a Star Insurance policy, which helps them recover a portion of ticket sales should the Star be out, an understudy goes on, and half of the audience takes a refund.

 

amiyagi
#66REDWOOD Previews
Posted: 1/28/25 at 11:03pm

nightnic0012 said: "inception said: "veronicamae said:

 
Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content

"

 
Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content
Good to hear that song is gone. It was embarrassing.

What about that short scene when she was watching the TV show Maude on her laptop?

 


Oh, that's there. Grinding the plot to a halt for 2 minutes."

 

I think it's been cut now. Was at the show tonight and she watched a climbing clip on the laptop but nothing else. Run time is still 2hr 5mins though. 

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SonofRobbieJ
#67REDWOOD Previews
Posted: 1/29/25 at 10:02am

BrodyFosse123 said: "Same with TV work. You only get paid for the episodes you appear in. Even if you’re the lead of a series but have to miss a few episodes to film another committed project, you aren’t going to be paid for the episodes you weren’t on. Most who are in this dilema, try to schedule their other committed projects for their off days and weekends. No one wants to see their pay get cut regardless how big it is to the average person.

That's not entirely true. Actors of a certain stature can negotiate an 'all episodes produced' provision into their series contracts that guarantee they are paid for all episodes produced rather than all episodes in which they appear.

And as noted below, actors on Broadway under a certain threshold are entitled to sick and personal leave. Actors may not be salaried, but contracts still guarantee these types of things. 

 

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Cape Twirl of Doom
#68REDWOOD Previews
Posted: 1/29/25 at 11:35pm

Saw this tonight, have not read a thing about it so I don’t know what the feedback on it is, but I hated it. Maybe the worst thing I’ve ever had to sit through. If I wasn’t sitting in the middle of a row I would have left early. They claim it’s 1:45 but it was over 2 hours. Just pointless garbage with lyrics I could barely even understand. Idina Menzel drives to CA and climbs a tree. There, that’s the plot. There are no stakes. Oh no! Will she be allowed up on the platform or not!? The character of Becca was insufferable and screamed almost every single line.
And we had to sit through the son doing a bad rap song. What were they thinking with that?

I guess the projections were cool. That’s the only positive I have about it. Now to read the thread and see if everyone else here loved it.


"It's Phantom meets Hamlet... Phamlet!"

ElephantLoveMedley
#69REDWOOD Previews
Posted: 1/29/25 at 11:46pm

The less I write about this show, the better. One of the worst pieces of theatre I have ever seen.

Completely baffled how this made it to Broadway.

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BroadwayFanatic454
#70REDWOOD Previews
Posted: 1/30/25 at 8:52am

Chiming in here to say that, while not perfect, this is far from the worst new musical to make it to Broadway this season. With the right cuts to get it down to the advertised runtime, this has the potential to be a really great and moving show. That great show is in there, it's just a matter of making the right cuts. I will echo what others have previously said on this board and say that Idina is in amazing voice and is giving a great performance. If your desire is to see her shine in a Broadway musical, you will not be disappointed.

(And just for the record, I have seen all of the new musicals from this season so far.) 

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Sutton Ross
#71REDWOOD Previews
Posted: 1/30/25 at 12:28pm

And these reactions are from die hard Idina fans that go at the beginning of previews. I can't imagine where this show will be in six months for the casual theatergoer. I loved the projections in CA but it wasn't a good show by any means. And the fact that they posted that false running time before previews began was a bad move since people plan things based on it, such as catching a train on time.

This had potential. Shame. 

Ensemble1665759202
#72REDWOOD Previews
Posted: 1/30/25 at 1:00pm

Sutton Ross said: "And these reactions are from die hard Idina fans that go at the beginning of previews. I can't imagine where this show will be in six months for the casual theatergoer. I loved the projections in CA but it wasn't a good show by any means. And the fact that they posted that false running time before previews began was a bad move since people plan things based on it, such as catching a train on time.

This had potential. Shame.
"

Are we certain Idina/the show is looking to run longer than six months anyway? I'm seeing this a couple of days after opening and I'll be interested to see if the running time is accurate once the show officially opens, given they still have a few weeks before it opens to make cuts.

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Jordan Catalano
#73REDWOOD Previews
Posted: 1/30/25 at 2:25pm

I can’t imagine they’d be happy to close after only six months. The problem is like with so many shows that need a significant amount of work, it’s so expensive to do so and in this case I’m guessing the constant projections make it even more of a problem for them to do the work that’s so needed on this show. I really don’t think it’s a “bad” show (I’ve seen faaaar worse) but it’s far from being a really good one, as is. 

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DiscoCrows
#74REDWOOD Previews
Posted: 1/30/25 at 2:46pm

Jordan Catalano said: "I can’t imagine they’d be happy to close after only six months. The problem is like with so many shows that need a significant amount of work, it’s so expensive to do so and in this case I’m guessing the constant projections make it even more of a problem for them to do the work that’s so needed on this show. I really don’t think it’s a “bad” show (I’ve seen faaaar worse) but it’s far from being a really good one, as is."

Agreed. I think between Tina, Idina, the other creatives behind this and Eva Price, this feels like a particularly sentimental project. I hate to use the word “vanity project” because I think it has some bits and pieces going for it. I don’t see this team letting the show close before the fall, they will find the investors who feel similarly and are willing to burn money if that’s what it takes.

I also think operating costs are probably a bit lower than what people are expecting. I certainly haven’t seen them myself, but it’s a smaller performing company with non A-list creatives. The show is being GM’ed in-house, which is a first for this producing office. I am sure they are finding ways to build a bit of a reserve.

Updated On: 1/30/25 at 02:46 PM


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