Suzy to shutter on Sunday?- Page 2

[baddadnpa]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 11:27am

Considering the amount of money she makes shilling her books, food, machines, etc., she can afford it and take a nice tax write off as well.

As for damage to her reputation, I think it is fair to say her reputation after the show closes will be equally regarded as it is now.

And COnducter, it is called Schadenfreude.

I also truly don't believe that Suzanne's aspirations were as noble as wanting to entertain the masses.

Updated On: 7/20/05 at 11:27 AM

[Mimi Imfurst]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 11:29am

I actually thought that Ms. Somers was NOT the problem with this production. God bless her for putting her heart into the show...her acting/singing wasnt horrible. It was good at a lot of times, however the material that she was given was less than second rate and the technical elements around her only weakened her performance.

[Tiny-Toon]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 12:38pm

..
Broadway.com says Saturday, July 23

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 1:00pm

the show is being forced to close this Sunday, July 24th. She cites the savaging that the show got by the critics as the reason for the show's early departure.

Yea, it all their fault it is being “FORCED” to close. The critics are holding a gun to her and Alan’s head…of course, SHE can’t be to blame, can she?

Granted, she is not the sharpest pencil in the box, but she deserves our respect. She tried and it was not successful, so what? I know everybody is entitled to their opinion and I respect that, I just people would understand that when you open yourself up to a brand new medium, as she has, that it is very hard to fail. The Broadway stage is not for her

Broadway is supposed to be the "best" of theatre (yea, I know that's asking a lot), what people work for years and years to achieve by paying their dues and hard work. I am not saying Suzanne hasn’t worked hard through the years, but so has my mother. Just because she has the money to produce this crap doesn’t mean she can demand our respect. Take it to the dinner theatres or back to Vegas where the expectations are a bit lower. But to suggest that she deserves to be treated with kid gloves just because she has the funds to put it out there is an insult to every real actor who has worked his ass off for his craft, to contribute something artistic to the Theatre and not just to feed their ego.

but some people demand more for their $11.02.

Funniest post in a long time. Thanks for that laugh!

[Mimi Imfurst]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 1:05pm

*stands up and applauds loudly*

[zelda]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 1:13pm

Thank you Conductorman..my sentiments exactly. people on this site are a tad vicous and really need to stop..try constructive criticism...examine and back it up.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 1:13pm

She's done Vegas. She probably had all kinds of people telling her "You should take this to Broadway!" Eventually, you start to believe it.

And hey, if Broadway can go to Vegas, it doesn't seem so crazy that someone might have the idea to bring Vegas to Broadway. Why kick a person so hard when they're already way down? You must admit that there are people who have worked in the Broadway community for many years who continue to pump out sh*t. So what does longevity mean? The Weisslers? Andrew Lloyd Webber? The Dodgers?

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 1:19pm

SOMERS' TIME UP
by Michael Riedel

'THESE men are curmudgeons, and maybe I went too close to the bone for them. I was lying there naked, and they decided to kick me and step on me, just like these visions you see in Iraq," says Suzanne Somers of her treatment at the hands of New York's drama critics.

It may be the height of celebrity hubris to compare your bad reviews to Abu Ghraib, but Somers — an exaggerated entertainment personality if ever there was one — is not backing down.

She says she's "pissed" that the critics savaged her one-woman show, "The Blonde in the Thunderbird," and "saddened" that, because of their terrible notices, she's being forced to close it on Sunday.

It was scheduled to run until Sept. 3.

On Monday, the day reviews appeared, the box office took in about $5,000.

In the show, Somers speaks candidly about her struggles in life
— an alcoholic father, teen pregnancy, bankruptcy, breast cancer.

"I laid out my life in all of its flawed ugliness, and I guess there was a part of me that hoped the critics would say, 'Wow!' "

What they said, in fact, was, "Yuck!"

Charles Isherwood, in the New York Times, called her show a "swan dive into narcissism."

(Somers says she'd like to tell Isherwood "to go to hell, and I don't care if he knows it.")

Clive Barnes, in The Post, said "Thunderbird" was "smug and remorseless."

And Michael Kuchwara of The Associated Press said it was a "therapy session crossed with a tacky Las Vegas review."

"I put my show out there with the cleanest of hearts and the best of intentions, and getting reviews like that hurt," Somers says.

"Barry Manilow said Broadway would break my heart, and it has."

A self-help guru who spent years in therapy, Somers says she allowed herself to "wallow in it" the day the notices appeared.

"It was hard for me. I was angry and depressed. I had a massage that day, and I asked the woman who worked on me to do some acupuncture for my emotions. I told her I was heartbroken. After the massage, she told me she came to the show on Friday and was so moved by it. She said: 'The men who write these reviews can't take it. It's too emotional for them.' "

It's significant, Somers believes, that the one decent review she got was from Linda Winer of Newsday, the only woman among New York's top theater critics.

Winer called Somers "bright and ebullient" and said the show was "slickly presented."

"There is something about me that connects with women," Somers says. "You'd think I would have a male following, but my demographics were always the highest in television with women."

Somers is hoping that her gal pack — "those ladies out there in Queens who watch me on TV" — will ignore the critics and flock to her show.

They won't be disappointed, she says.

"The fighter in me is back today. Even though I only have [seven] performances left, they're going to be great performances."


http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/50464.htm

[justme2]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 1:21pm

agreed Raithnait and Conductorman!

I don't think Conductorman was asking for kid glove treatment of anybody...he was merely pointing out how vicious many of the posts are and many have not even seen the show.

So it's a piece of crap....it's not the first and certainly not the last time a crappy show opens on Broadway. And while I agree, Broadway is supposed to be the top and the very best in entertainment...that's not the reality.

Cash + theater = you can open a show on Broadway.

[Brodybaby03]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 1:30pm

Here's my inner B*tch coming out to play...
THANK GOD this CRAP is closing and I don't have to look at her tree trunk legs on that marquee anymore.
If she wanted to do a cabaret, go to Feinstein's @ the Regency or something like Patti Lupone (who is a helluva lot more talented than suzanne somers!) Don't get up on a BROADWAY stage and talk to me about your alcoholic father, your drug issues and how Joyce Dewitt tried to bring you down! PLEASE! We've all been there...Joyce has been after me for years, I just grab a bottle of Pinot Grigio, and lay in the tub! I don't make everyone listen to me!
SO LONG, FAREWELL!

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 1:32pm

Wow. That is all I can say. WOW! To compare the reviews to POW abuse? I really don't know what to say.

The thing is, I don't think anyone denies that she has had a hard life and has made the best of it. Great for her. I mean that. But to assume that people don't like your "slickly presented" (and is that a compliment?) show because they are mean and just don't get it is really wrong. Theatre is supposed to entertain and move us, not make us feel sorry for the person on stage. The critics are reviewing a piece of THEATRE not Suzanne Somer's life. If she can't seperate the two she has even less business being on Broadway than I thought.

It is like all the people who criticized that awful Robin Williams movie about the Jews in WWII. They were not saying that the things that happened were not horrible, just the way it was presented.

[baddadnpa]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 1:35pm

She has also gone to this well once too often. First we had a book about her sad life, then a TV movie - how many more mediums is she going to adapt her life for? Don't charge me $100 to see you work out your inner demons Suzanne. Goodbye!

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 1:38pm

Like Iraq? Did she just have the nerve to compare her ego-trip to people dying in the Iraq war?

[Tiny-Toon]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 1:39pm

So is it closing Saturday or Sunday?
TheatreMania and Broadway.com say Saturday

Updated On: 7/20/05 at 01:39 PM

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 1:40pm

when i saw the first preview on July 8th, Suzanne Somers signed my playbill. Considering the short run of the show, will this be worth anything in 50 years?

[Georgeanne]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 1:40pm

Are you talking about Jakob the Liar, Sueleen?

I don't like to see people fail, and even though I'm sure the show was horrible and that it was a piece of narcissistic trash, it still kind of makes me feel bad for her.

Though, I do wish she would have known that with no ties to the community she was going to have a tough time to begin with.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 1:40pm

Sorry Suzy, not even the Queens gals can save you now... Bye Bye Chrissy Snow.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 1:44pm

ISn't theatre supposed to be universal? If men aren't connecting with the material than shouldn't Somers re-tool the show to speak to her entire audience?

And it's not like female driven shows have had similar fates. Vagina Monologues had a huge run. So what is Somers' problem? I've seen her E! True Hollywood Story, why should I pay 11 bucks to hear her "sing" about it?

[sanda]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 1:44pm

I think it should, a star autograph with a short running show.

Which is the shortest running show with a star in broadway history, by the way?

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 1:50pm

I'd have to say Home Sweet Homer. The star was Yul Brynner. The show lasted one performance: January 4, 1976.
Updated On: 7/20/05 at 01:50 PM

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 1:50pm

I would guess Bobbi Boland...

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 1:53pm

Bobbi Boland closed after 7 previews...I wonder if anyone stage doored that show. Did anyone on the board see that show? I know Margo and MEF missed it...

[gymman]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 1:53pm

That comparison to Iraq is precisely the kind of ego that I was railing about in another post; she honestly is so isolated from the "real" world that she believes that is apt. And look--Broadway is a business, and it didn't look like she could sell before she opened. So did the reviews change that much? Maybe, had they been raves, but this still sounds like a club act, not a show for a Broadway stage.

I do not think most of the criticism is "personal" but when she puts her life up there for review, and then gets shot down, well...

If I were in town, I would see this before it closes, just to have "been there."
Updated On: 7/20/05 at 01:53 PM

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 1:53pm

Oldest Living Confederate Widow starring Ellen Burstyn one performance (after previews). Boland never opened officially.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 1:54pm

THE FREAKING OUT OF STEPHANIE BLAKE starring Jean Arthur.