Some Directors/New Projects

According to a recent mailing from Broadwaysbestshows.com..,

• Michael Mayer is set to direct a new revival of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
• Anna D. Shapiro, directing this season’s Eureka Day, is setting up for a revival of The Diary of Anne Frank
• Ivo Van Hove is working on a revival of All My Sons, circling Paul Mescal to star
• Bartlett Sher is currently developing three new musicals: La La Land with Pasek & Paul, Hello, I’m Dolly with Dolly Parton, and Millions with Adam Guettel and Bob Martin
• Angela Bassett is being wooed for two major play revivals in the coming two seasons…

Meanwhile, Broadway's Best Shows –– a site owned by Jeffrey Richards & Jim Glaub –– posted a rave "review" of OUR TOWN (a show lead-produced by Richards and with social content by Glaub), attributed to no critic. Which they've done for other shows they produced too.

That feels like grounds for removal from the Broadway League, but that's just me.

As for that list of shows...

WHOREHOUSE feels like a flop in the making, a product of its time, and not something that any genuinely famous stars would want to do. Let it die.

Mescal has his pick of the litter of stage & screen projects right now, why choose a supporting role in ALL MY SONS?

I've grown so weary of Sher and his schtick that I cannot be excited about any of those projects. MILLIONS has been in the works for more than a decade, LA LA LAND feels like a paycheck gig, and a self-serious Dolly Parton musical is the last thing anyone should want.

yay Anna Shapiro/Anne Frank, I guess? Like any play, it will require some stars.

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "As for that list of shows...

WHOREHOUSE feels like a flop in the making, a product of its time, and not something that any genuinely famous stars would want to do. Let it die.

Mescal has his pick of the litter of stage & screen projects right now, why choose a supporting role in ALL MY SONS?

I've grown so weary of Sher and his schtick that I cannot be excited about any of those projects. MILLIONS has been in the works for more than a decade, LA LA LAND feels like a paycheck gig, and a self-serious Dolly Parton musical is the last thing anyone should want.

yay Anna Shapiro/Anne Frank, I guess? Like any play, it will require some stars."

I think it is going to be very difficult for any director to top some of the visuals in the movie, particular the opening number and the number at the Observatory. I can't help thinking it is too soon to try for a stage version of such a brilliantly original (and recent) movie. Maybe if Emma and Ryan sign up (which of course would be really stupid n their part).

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "At a minimum, La La Land will probably do good business on the road and in amateur/regional licensing.

But it’s a strange assortment of people working on the Broadway-aimed version, and I think it’s too recent and too well liked to take a swing on the level of AN AMERICAN IN PARIS. Reminds me of the attempts to musicalize Umbrellas of Cherbourg, which didn’t work out."

I actually saw Umbrellas a thousand years ago in LA. I had never seen the movie, so I was new to it other than ‘I Will Wait For You’. Unlike La La Land, although a hit, the movie was still niche.

It was a very small show, in the huge Ahmanson theatre. I actually remember the swooniness of the production and I quite loved it. Ironically, it would probably have a better chance at success nowadays in a small theatre, e.g., the Booth or a 500 seat off-B theatre, because I think we are more accepting of small musicals that when it previewed in LA.