THE MUSIC MAN Previews — Page 17

Updated On: 12/29/21 at 09:11 PM

ACL2006 said: "More or less that protocols are essentially different for every show, theater and union. And you're basically cleared to go back to work if you are asymptomatic following your 10-day quarantine, even if you continue to test positive."

Where is union leadership? Shouldn’t COVID protocols/screening be consistent across all shows and theaters?

The Distinctive Baritone said: "I am a bit surprised that they have now also canceled the other shows as well. Was it ever confirmed that Foster would be back on those days? Unlike The Boy From Oz, which was a show no one had ever heard of and the production existed simply to sell Broadway tickets to X-Men fans, The Music Man is a classic show and Sutton Foster must be at least some kind of draw. Did Sean Montgomery get COVID too? Or maybe it had to do with half the ensemble also being out and the swings being over-worked and it became a company morale thing? It just seems like a lot of money to throw out the window. Then again, the show will likely make up for the loss in the future."

Depends. Apparently Hello Dolly! barely recouped because it had an $800,000 weekly nut.

The Distinctive Baritone said: "I am a bit surprised that they have now also canceled the other shows as well. Was it ever confirmed that Foster would be back on those days? Unlike The Boy From Oz, which was a show no one had ever heard of and the production existed simply to sell Broadway tickets to X-Men fans, The Music Man is a classic show and Sutton Foster must be at least some kind of draw. Did Sean Montgomery get COVID too? Or maybe it had to do with half the ensemble also being out and the swings being over-worked and it became a company morale thing? It just seems like a lot of money to throw out the window. Then again, the show will likely make up for the loss in the future."

I don’t think anyone here knows for sure, but two pages ago someone posted a screenshot from Telecharge for one of the shows Jackman was supposed to be out for and it was bad. It doesn’t surprise me that they decided to cancel.


I’m sure Foster is a draw, but not enough for these prices. Plus, to your point, I don’t think we know when she’ll be back.

Sutton Ross said: "Plenty of people will pay tons for Sutton, including me. Hugh Jackman isn't the draw for me, I sincerely hope they figure this all out and have someone like Norm Lewis during his many vacations from this show."

1. It's not about you.

2. Covid is not a vacation.

@jkc I think they were talking about "Hugh Jackman isn't the draw for me." My point is that, while any of us can not-care about a specific performer, the fact is, Hugh is the sine qua non of this production. I don't disagree that theatre geeks might enjoy seeing someone else who is cool, but that won't pay the bills. Maybe they will try something like that when Hugh's scheduled days away get closer, but rolling that into a discussion of covid just to accentuate someone they don't like is just classic SR nonsense.

SweetLips22 said: "I am only judging from brief clips and photos but in all of them Hugh is grinning like a cheshire? cat and giving a performance like 'gee but it's good to be here' . Shipoopi? looks as interesting as a hall dance night.

Hugh would have been brilliant in the movie Chicago and even guest appearances in it on Broadway but nah!, not for HH the way he seem to be playing him. I would like someone a little more shop worn and knocked around by life on the road. There would have been a 'Marian' in every town for him but something about her breaks through to find that softness that resides in all of us no matter how we try to hide it. Whether that arc is there I do not know but that's how I would like to see my HH."



To each his own

However, someone on the other theatre "chat" board unearthed documented old character notes on Marian ( which indicated she was the the child of the old man who bequeathed the library to her) and also notes on the character of Harold Hill.

Six pages on the Hill notes --


https://songbook.historyit.com/detail-page.php?id=2302

On Page six of the Hill notes --

https://api.historyit.com/iiif/2/5ae8f072695922.51531174/59c288522ab139.34492925.jpg/full/!5000,5000/0/default.jpg

"Spellbinder? Oh yes indeed. Look at Hal Hill as he is in 1913. 35 years old, 5'11" - 160 lbs., hazel eyes -
warm and deep, brown hair, rangy, straight, well-postured,
good-looking, lean, normally tidy, exceedingly well-proportioned

Pleasant, interested, generously cheerful to anyone and everyone.
Hal Hill, metropolite, carnivalian, lyceumist, tab artist,
vaudevillian - and recently out of his deeply-buried frustrations,
he has begun to add an almost hypnotic quality to the reactions
he is able to invoke from the spirit-hungry
small town middle-westerners

. They don't know that
his magic depends largely on their own open-eyed
wonder, under which spell he can make them accept almost any suggestion he
offers. And they also don't know that there wouldn't be any
magic at all if it wasn't for the red silk lining of his cost ..."

This could have been the basis of the new Zaks/Jackman interpretation of the character ? Hugh Jackman is a consummate actor with great range - it is doubtful that he would have simply acted out the role on a whim?

Updated On: 12/30/21 at 10:25 PM

I don’t know about house right, but I sat house left on the aisle, and the view was pretty near perfect.

Judging from the unearthed Willson character notes Jo refers to above, I’d say that Zaks’s direction regarding Harold Hill is pretty spot on. This Harold Hill is more of an overly enthusiastic, playful glad hander who oozes charm and likability, all the better to insinuate himself among and dupe the citizenry. Jackman certainly does not smile, as someone put it, like a Cheshire cat all the time—only when he’s consciously using charm to achieve his ends. It’s obvious (to the audience) that his affability is not sincere. When he’s alone with Marcellus the mask is dropped and you see the cynical con man beneath.

During the tap-filled finale, no one onstage is acting a role anymore. Everyone sports a broad smile, radiating joy and receiving it back from an appreciative and enthusiastic audience.

Updated On: 12/31/21 at 01:56 AM

jo said: "Media alert --

Jackman interview with CBS-Sunday, for telecast on Jan 2, Sunday.

Presumably done before he tested positive for covid.

https://twitter.com/RealHughJackman/status/1476560813792141312?s=20"



Here it is -- with many clips from the show ( even if the focus is on Hugh Jackman himself)

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/on-broadway-hugh-jackman-in-the-music-man/#x

Updated On: 1/2/22 at 10:34 AM

It looks like Sutton has recovered or is recovering well. Hope the rest who tested positive for covid are all doing as well.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CYLHLfAswjL/

Have we had any type of confirmation that Hugh and Sutton are all clear for when the show reopens on the 6th? Thinking of rushing it sometime this week. I’d still see it with understudies, but I’m taking a non-theatre person who is very excited about Hugh.

I mean, yeah, I think we'd all agree? It's not like it's a new show...

Previews will resume in fifteen minutes. Foster is also back!