Riedel: Chenoweth Picks PROMISES, PROMISES Over MINSKY'S- Page 4

[emo_geek]

Posted: 10/14/09 at 4:38pm

I couldn't see Cheno doing Minskys. Though it was a long time ago that I saw it...

[PiraguaGuy2]

Posted: 10/14/09 at 4:38pm

To be honest, I find this show to be a piece of dated pap, only remarkable for Bennett's choreography, which will definitely be eroded by a combination of bad dancers and some crappy director take the helm.

[SNAFU]

Posted: 10/14/09 at 4:44pm

Just a side note, am I the only one that finds that picture of her on the home page a bit scary?

Posted: 10/14/09 at 5:18pm

How did we get into four pages without anyone pointing out that Hates comes off gayer than Snagglepuss in Chinese pajamas and would be more believable playing a tropical fish than a man in love with Kristen Chenoweth? I could see him playing a really big fan of hers, though.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 10/14/09 at 5:20pm

I would like to see him play a fish who was a fan of hers.

[blueroses]

Posted: 10/14/09 at 5:30pm

Finding Cheno.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 10/14/09 at 5:32pm

EL OH EL (literally)

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 10/14/09 at 5:42pm

What's gay about Chinese Pajamas?
Snagglepuss, I get.

[ACL2006]

Posted: 10/14/09 at 7:03pm

suddenly I'm not so excited for this.

[fflagg]

Posted: 10/14/09 at 8:47pm

Hayes is not gay. He's GAAAAAAAAAAAY!!

KC is too old, the wrong vocal type, and incredibly overrated.

Adrien Brody, Emily Blunt, Dennis Quaid, and Catherine O'Hara is my cast of choice.

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 10/14/09 at 9:33pm

I did see the original on Broadway, and Jill O'Hara is exactly as (our) Michael Bennett says: she was special for that time...and right for that part. She sounded like she was going to fall apart at any moment, a terribly vulnerable and dependent young woman in a hopeless relationship with an older, married man. Things have changed A LOT since then! Are audiences today really going to accept, understand and sympathize with a woman like this??? This is the age of "empowered women"! Elphaba, Violet, The Edie Beales!!!

I agree that this casting seems bizarre, but I will give Kristen Chenoweth this: her dramatic scenes in THE APPLE TREE were really touching (even though she was playing a fully "empowered" woman.)

Besty is so right about the original cast being made up of "actors" and MB is so right about the ensemble being made up of "dancers"...especially Donna McKechnie. She was just breathtaking in "Turkey Lurkey Time." The audience was mad for her!

I'm not a fan of Neil Simon's, but a huge fan of Burt Bacharach's. I just don't know if this show is do-able anymore. I remember getting the CD a few years back and being so excited to hear it again (and of course knew every lyric even though it had been decades since I'd heard the album). Yet it really struck me as being horribly sexist, which was de rigeur at the time, I realize, but those doling out the sexism tended to be nothing like SEAN HAYES!

I love the thought of Snagglepuss in Chinese pajamas though. I'd pay $136.50 in a heartbeat to see that.

[fashionguru_23]

Posted: 10/14/09 at 10:10pm

I think Cheno and Hayes would be awesome, but if you want a younger person to play the cheno role, what about a younger actress who played Glinda somewhere?

Annaleigh Ashford, or Kate Reinders (they're not my choices, but just two that came to mind)

BTW, Annaleigh is suppost to do a new Cirque du Soleil show.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/14/09 at 10:14pm

Is the phrase "Chinese pajamas" unintentionally racist?

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 10/14/09 at 10:20pm

It was appropriate to the times, PalJoey!

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 10/14/09 at 10:27pm

KChen may be 41 but her forehead is not.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 10/15/09 at 2:19am

Its true that Anne Hathaway and Scarlet Johanson do seem to get mentioned for everything. I have a funny feeling one of them just might be heading up the revival of THE MIRACLE WORKER.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 10/15/09 at 9:50am

Maybe they are BOTH doing it!

[Smaxie]

Posted: 10/15/09 at 10:24am

Neither of them are doing The Miracle Worker. Johansson will be doing a Broadway show this season, however.

As far as Fran Kubelik, Promises, Promises is definitely a show of its time, but I think there are still people who make bad decisions about their relationships and battle with feelings of self-worth. Even if the smirky plotting of horny businessmen having affairs with secretaries seems a '60s sensibility, I think there are other issues in The Apartment/Promises, Promises that are still relevant, even if Fran's manic depression might rub modern sensibilities the wrong way.

I wouldn't have thought 'Kristin Chenoweth' when casting Fran. She mostly plays fierce comic sharpies, not vulnerable conflicted women. But I think she's a crafty actress and will find a way to make it work for her.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 10/15/09 at 10:31am

I'm pretty sure Scarlett is playing Annie and Anne is playing Helen, but they are going to switch it up for the matinees.

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/15/09 at 10:37am

No, no, NO, Phyl. Miracle Worker will be directed by George C. Wolfe. Anne is playing the water, and Scarlett is playing the pump.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 10/15/09 at 11:09am

Best that sounds more like Anne Bogart than George C. Wolfe...

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/15/09 at 11:48am

Nope.

This is "The Miracle Worker or Change."

... Or "Bring in Da Noise, Bring in Da Sight!"

Updated On: 10/15/09 at 11:48 AM

[madbrian]

Posted: 10/15/09 at 1:05pm

I thought it was "Helen Keller: At Liberty"

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 10/15/09 at 1:07pm

If those hands could talk ... and they will!

[allofmylife]

Posted: 10/15/09 at 1:53pm

This is a sad and fascinating thread filled with attacks on one of the preeminent stars of Broadway and even homophobic jokes about a beloved actor. I'd expect this type of banter on Nikki Finke but not here. Kristin Chenoweth played a teenage girl at age 35 and none of you bitched about it. Many of you constantly queened it up about her being a goddess and now she wants to play the role of a 22 year old and you want to throw her off the stage like used meat.

Mary Martin, anyone? Maria? At age 46?

And the hateful comments about Sean Hayes seem to be sadly misplaced on a site that's WWWWAAAAAYYYYY gayer than he is.

What is wrong with some of you people?