#1
Posted: 2/13/08 at 6:20pm
"DreamWorks, it seems, is having trouble finding actors who can fill the shoes of Mike Myers and Eddie Murphy, both of whom were crucial to the success of the "Shrek" franchise.
"It's a question of chemistry," says a source. "It's hard to find the perfect pair."
The usual suspects have auditioned for "Shrek" - which is to say Broadway actors of some girth: Dan Fogler ("Spelling Bee"); Kevin Chamberlain ("Seussical"); Shuler Hensley (already green in "Young Frankenstein").
But the hunt goes on."
..........
"Foster and Sieber sang a couple of songs from the score, by composer Jeanine Tesori and lyricist and bookwriter David Lindsay-Abaire, who won the Pulitzer for "Rabbit Hole."
Tesori is a very shrewd composer, but she's not exactly known as a tunesmith. Her score to Tony Kushner's "Caroline, or Change" is complex and dynamic, but you have to be a member of the Kushner claque to leave the theater humming a tune.
Her "Shrek" songs showed off her musical intelligence, but they weren't the sort of bouncy ditties you'd expect from a Broadway musical aimed at families. She might want to toss in a "Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo" here and there.
Abaire's lyrics are trying for the kind of wit Stephen Sondheim showed off in his fairy-tale musical, "Into the Woods."
He's not there yet."
http://www.nypost.com/seven/02132008/entertainment/theater/cast_search_isnt_ogre_97378.htm
"It's a question of chemistry," says a source. "It's hard to find the perfect pair."
The usual suspects have auditioned for "Shrek" - which is to say Broadway actors of some girth: Dan Fogler ("Spelling Bee"); Kevin Chamberlain ("Seussical"); Shuler Hensley (already green in "Young Frankenstein").
But the hunt goes on."
..........
"Foster and Sieber sang a couple of songs from the score, by composer Jeanine Tesori and lyricist and bookwriter David Lindsay-Abaire, who won the Pulitzer for "Rabbit Hole."
Tesori is a very shrewd composer, but she's not exactly known as a tunesmith. Her score to Tony Kushner's "Caroline, or Change" is complex and dynamic, but you have to be a member of the Kushner claque to leave the theater humming a tune.
Her "Shrek" songs showed off her musical intelligence, but they weren't the sort of bouncy ditties you'd expect from a Broadway musical aimed at families. She might want to toss in a "Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo" here and there.
Abaire's lyrics are trying for the kind of wit Stephen Sondheim showed off in his fairy-tale musical, "Into the Woods."
He's not there yet."
http://www.nypost.com/seven/02132008/entertainment/theater/cast_search_isnt_ogre_97378.htm
"Y'know, I think Bertolt Brecht was rolling in his grave."
-Nellie McKay on the 2006 Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera, in which she played Polly Peachum
-Nellie McKay on the 2006 Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera, in which she played Polly Peachum
