Stephanie Block on her next Broadway role

[Michael Bennett]

Stephanie Block on her next Broadway role#1

Posted: 4/6/12 at 9:34am

From the lovely Playbill.com interview....

Question: Any other projects you can talk about?
Block: I do have a project after Anything Goes. It is a Broadway show that is coming back, and I'm thrilled, but they haven't officially announced me, so I can't announce myself.
Stephanie Block finds her inner Reno

[dreaming]

Stephanie Block on her next Broadway role #2

Posted: 4/6/12 at 9:35am

I bet it's Edwin Drood.

[tazber]

Stephanie Block on her next Broadway role #2

Posted: 4/6/12 at 9:54am

Pirate Queen?

....but the world goes 'round

[SueleenGay]

Stephanie Block on her next Broadway role #3

Posted: 4/6/12 at 10:01am

Please let it be Cats.

PEACE.

[singtopher]

Stephanie Block on her next Broadway role #4

Posted: 4/6/12 at 10:04am

Put me down for DROOD as well.

"If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit that we just don't want to do it." -Stephen Colbert

[Mildred Plotka]

Stephanie Block on her next Broadway role #5

Posted: 4/6/12 at 10:11am

As Drood? No, thanks!

"Broadway...I'll lick you yet!"

[dreaming]

Stephanie Block on her next Broadway role #6

Posted: 4/6/12 at 10:11am

She strikes me as more of a Helena Landless than Drood/Nutting, though. Don't know why, she just does.

[best12bars]

Stephanie Block on her next Broadway role #7

Posted: 4/6/12 at 10:19am

I actually think she would be great as Edwin Drood.

"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."

---

blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22

[givesmevoice]

Stephanie Block on her next Broadway role #8

Posted: 4/6/12 at 10:30am

I could see her as either Drood or Helena Landless, actually.

When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain. -Kad

[best12bars]

Stephanie Block on her next Broadway role #9

Posted: 4/6/12 at 10:45am

Helena isn't a big enough role for Block. It's not a bad role at all, just a relatively small one.

Block is a leading lady now, and it wouldn't be wise for her to take a smaller part unless it was in an ensemble piece. Drood has a large cast of interesting characters, but these aren't ensemble of roles. The leads are Drood, Puffer, and the Chairman, with strong support from Jasper and Rosa Bud. The rest are good supporting parts.

I'm actually more interested in who will play the Chairman. The entire tone and pace of the show is set by that performer. The casting really is make-or-break.

EDIT: Aside from "Drood," I can't think what show she would be talking about, unless it's something that hasn't been announced at all yet.

"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."

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blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22

Updated On: 4/6/12 at 10:45 AM

[AC126748]

Stephanie Block on her next Broadway role #10

Posted: 4/6/12 at 10:51am

I'd kill for Simon Russell Beale to play The Chairman.

I could definitely see Block as Drood, though she wouldn't be my first choice.

"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe." -John Guare, Landscape of the Body

[bwayfan7000]

Stephanie Block on her next Broadway role #11

Posted: 4/6/12 at 10:53am

I think she would be a terrific Helena/Conover, to be sure, but I agree with Best12 that she should be playing a role like Drood/Nutting at this point. And, if we think about it logically, the casting notice said that in addition to Chita as Puffer, Drood, the Chairman and Jasper had been cast already, so it would make sense for Block to already know she's playing Drood even though it hasn't been announced to us yet. Drood is a tough role...it's certainly one of the biggest (it's the title role, after all), though Betty Buckley wasn't even able to get a Tony nomination for it in the midst of a five others in the cast being able to do so (Helena was even nominated!). So I hope that she is able to have the star turn she's deserved for a while. I can only imagine how sublime her "Writing on the Wall" would be.

"Art, in itself, is an attempt to bring order out of chaos."-Stephen Sondheim

[Jordan Catalano]

Stephanie Block on her next Broadway role #12

Posted: 4/6/12 at 10:54am

She's the new Annie.


Duh.

[Michael Bennett]

Stephanie Block on her next Broadway role #13

Posted: 4/6/12 at 10:58am

I agree that its unlikely that Block would be taking a role as small as Helena Landless, the truth is that Helena is a total show-stealing part in the right hands (Jana Schneider in the original was hilarious and yes, was very deservedly nominated for a Tony Award). Drood while arguably the female lead of the show is in truth a little bit of a thankless role. Its definitely not a part people win Tony Awards for.

[Jordan Catalano]

Stephanie Block on her next Broadway role #14

Posted: 4/6/12 at 11:04am

What other shows might be coming in? PIPPIN?

[AC126748]

Stephanie Block on her next Broadway role #15

Posted: 4/6/12 at 11:06am

I could see her as Fastrada.

"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe." -John Guare, Landscape of the Body

[TheatreFan27]

Stephanie Block on her next Broadway role #16

Posted: 4/6/12 at 11:27am

What about Grace in ANNIE?

[givesmevoice]

Stephanie Block on her next Broadway role #17

Posted: 4/6/12 at 11:29am

^ talk about a thankless role.

When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain. -Kad

[TheatreFan27]

Stephanie Block on her next Broadway role #18

Posted: 4/6/12 at 11:30am

True

[bwayfan7000]

Stephanie Block on her next Broadway role #19

Posted: 4/6/12 at 11:37am

Also from the interview: "I'm happy to say I've got work into 2013...". This could be another tip-off that it's DROOD, which I believe is scheduled to run through March 2013 at the moment. It could be perfectly reasonable that she's in a new show with an open run that could last into 2013, but this makes it sound like she's in something that she knows will have a set run, and DROOD fits the bill there.

"Art, in itself, is an attempt to bring order out of chaos."-Stephen Sondheim

[gypsy4]

Stephanie Block on her next Broadway role #20

Posted: 4/6/12 at 12:26pm

Maybe she's playing Hannigan or Grace Farrell.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Stephanie Block on her next Broadway role #21

Posted: 4/6/12 at 12:40pm

AC, I quickly glanced at your post and read it as "I can see her as Fantasia."

[Jordan Catalano]

Stephanie Block on her next Broadway role #22

Posted: 4/6/12 at 12:46pm

I can see her as 'Tasia!

[inlovewithjerryherman]

Stephanie Block on her next Broadway role #23

Posted: 4/6/12 at 4:35pm

'tasia forever, man.

It's Drood. A breakdown for the production was recently released, and The Chairman, Drood, and John Jasper have all been cast, but not announced.

So unless they do some major gender-bending here, she'll be playing Edwin Drood, which I think is GREAT for her.

[Bialyhoos22]

Stephanie Block on her next Broadway role #24

Posted: 4/6/12 at 9:24pm

It's definitely DROOD. Though I did hear a worrisome rumor that Joel Grey was offered The Chairman. The production is dead in the water if that turns out to be true. The MC in Cabaret and the Chairman in Drood are polar opposites, despite the fact they're both out in front narrators.

I'm still hoping Jim Dale, Simon Russell Beale or a wildcard comes in. A colleague suggested Victor Garber could be a possibility given his history with the Roundabout. Though not ideal, he'd be 100 x better than Grey.