oh my god, it starts on my birthday. i may just have to go home to texas for a couple of weeks this summer! i'm surprised its in odessa and not dallas/ft worth...
It's the "shaking it up" quality I like, redhot. If I want to see the original Sweeney, well...there's the video. And no one's going to do Mrs. Lovett better than Angela Lansbury. From almost all the reports I've heard from people who saw this production in London, it's really amazing. And Sondheim himself wanted it to be a small-scale show at first. That's why I'm kind of frustrated that they're going with "names" in the lead casting. It's as if they wanted to be bold but couldn't quite go all the way with it.
<------ Me and my friends with patti Lupone at my friends afterparty for her concert with audra mcdonald during the summer of 2007.
"I am sorry but it is an unjust world and virtue is only triumphant in theatricle performances" The Mikado
I never knew there was a huge demand for musical theatre in Odessa. I guess since there is nothing near Odessa, they need something. I was there in the early 80s and there wasn't a lot there. How did it suddenly get powerful enough to bring in Bernadette Peters, Betty Buckley and Maria Friedman? They ain't cheap, y'all.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
Hey, cool for them. As much as I'd like the NYC area to hog performers like Ms. Peters all the time, isn't it better for theater if people all over the country see them?
I think that the demand for musical theatre in Odessa has been growing for a few years. My aunt lives in Midland, which is right next to Odessa and the producer (who also directs the productions) has apparently built the theatregoing audience from a small number to a major need for the area. Living in New York, it's hard to think that there are good things in places like Texas, but I think it's all about how one makes the deals, and whoever's out there knows how to make the deals.
i could go see the texas one, but ill be out of town *sobs*
"Picture "The View," with the wisecracking, sympathetic sweethearts of that ABC television show replaced by a panel of embittered, suffering or enraged Arab women" -the Times review of Black Eyed
Let's just open them both on Broadway on the same night in theatres next door to each other and see if the new Lupone London compares with the more traditional Buckley Odessa version :) However, it's very impressive that the Texas production has taken such lengths to ensure quality. I'd go with them for the moment.
Betty will be amazing, but I am surprised this Texas production is in Odessa and not Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio, Houston or... well, anywhere else!
yeah most of the productions i've seen are in Dallas/Ft Worth since they already have amazing facilities. ive never been to Odessa but if all that stuff about it growing is true i should make a drive over there.
there are definately good things in Texas!! i agree that people probably don't think of it living here in NYC
Honestly, I'd probably be more drawn to see the more traditional version. I like big productions. But I'm not goin' to Texas any time soon so the broadway version is going to be just fine for me! I don't have any problems with the casting, I can't wait to see Michael dig into this role. Yeah, I too will probably be rushing this show every other day.
"What a mystery this world. One day you love them and the next day you want to kill them a thousand times over." The Masked Bandit in THE FALL
I think a lot of people will really dislike the new staging of the show. Not to say that the Texas director won't do some restaging himself, but the new one will be a big turn-off I think. I bet it won't last, and I think it will be compared to this production in Texas. I bet many people from New York and other places will go see it. Even though it's in the middle of nowhere.
One of my friends knows the stage manager of the one in Texas and I heard that Michael Arden was offered a role and turned it down, laughed when they asked him and didn't even consider it. It thought that was rude.