The King and I previews thread - Page 9

[Sally Durant Plummer]

Posted: 3/14/15 at 9:42pm

Thank God Namo is here to keep logic in this conversation.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 3/14/15 at 9:42pm

Who is Mozart?

[Fantod]

Posted: 3/14/15 at 9:42pm

Oh yes, calling people demented and wishing people to go to hell is very logical.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 3/14/15 at 9:46pm

It's all the logic you deserve, dweeb.

[chewy5000]

Posted: 3/14/15 at 10:23pm

I thought Mozart was just a character from that play?

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 3/14/15 at 10:46pm

Oh. OH! Goodness gracious. The next thing you know, somebody here is going to put Leonard Bernstein above Orlande de Lassus!!! Why, I never...

[tazber]

Posted: 3/14/15 at 10:59pm

Is there a thread that AE and Fantod post in they don't ruin?

[jv92]

Posted: 3/14/15 at 11:07pm

No, tazber. Sad, but true.

But can't I enjoy both LaChiusa and Mozart for different reasons?

[Sally Durant Plummer]

Posted: 3/14/15 at 11:19pm

Of course not! Marie Christine and The Wild Party were the WORST shows ever made and every single person who saw them hated them. Ben Franklin in Paris was much better. Grr, Sondheim insult, grr, randomly bringing up some forgotten musical like Kelly, grr, everything's a dirgical.

[SharoninB]

Posted: 3/14/15 at 11:27pm

Why are discussing randmon composers who have nothing to with Broadway here !! Updated On: 3/14/15 at 11:27 PM

[jv92]

Posted: 3/14/15 at 11:45pm

Well, LaChiusa has something to do with Broadway. He's a theater composer.

And didn't they write some play about Mozart?

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 3/14/15 at 11:47pm

Leonard Bernstein has a show on Broadway RIGHT NOW.

[jv92]

Posted: 3/14/15 at 11:49pm

And don't forget the smash hit Orlande de Lassus musical, CHANSON!: A MUSICAL CELEBRATION

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 3/14/15 at 11:54pm

I hope it's in English.

(full circle)

[n2nbaby]

Posted: 3/15/15 at 12:00am

Mozart wrote poems about farts.

[jv92]

Posted: 3/15/15 at 12:00am

Wanna hear my poem about farts? It's called "After Eight."

[ljay889]

Posted: 3/15/15 at 12:07am

Just saw that Ann Sanders is an understudy for Anna. Wouldn't it be bizarre to have an Asian Anna? Betsy Morgan is the standby, so it would be very unlikely that Sanders would go on.

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 3/15/15 at 1:26am

Interestingly, this Times piece on Ken Watanbe points out that he's only contracted through July (I'm assuming due to film commitments), meaning he'll only be with the production for four months before they already have to put in a replacement.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/15/theater/ken-watanabe-moves-from-samurai-to-the-king-and-i.html?hpw&rref=theater&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region®ion=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well

[OlBlueEyes]

Posted: 3/15/15 at 1:29am

"Probably a third to a half of the posters here would put Sondheim over Rodgers."

You have GOT to be kidding. Truly, you have GOT to be kidding. Yes, I know that there are some brainwashed and/or brainwashing and/or hopeless and/or corrosive and/or corroded individuals here--- but surely nowhere near THAT many!

If that sentence was the ravings of a madman, then I'm at least encouraged that the people who post on this board, who have so much knowledge and love of the Broadway musical (although not so much love for each other) have also a love and respect for Broadway's history. When an outsider stops by, he can't help but notice the love for Sondheim just in the number of topics devoted to him.

More specifically, check out this 10 Greatest Scores topic. Of the 50 or 60 who listed ten or about ten scores, I didn't do the tedious math, but I say fully half of them included two, three or four Sondheim scores.

https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.php?thread=931254&dt=123

I can't help but think this that the above comment is a pretty pointed criticism against another person who is also a strong contender for a Tony this year.

Not meant as a criticism of Kristin or Audra, but as an expression of gratitude for Kelli. Who am I to tell Kristin or Audra that they should be enduring eight shows a week on Broadway when they could take a break on the other coast, do work which they enjoyed and for which they were well-paid, and find time for a lot of concert appearances? (Having said that, did KC really think that GCB was a good project for her to be a part of? How many actresses could have played her role on GCB? How many actresses could play Lily Garland on Broadway?)

Also, isn't Anna always suppose to be the star of the show, and then it wasn't until many of the later revivals, that it made The King the star because it was Yul Brynner?

From what I've read, The King and I was specifically written for Gertrude Lawrence, who was a British star of Julie Andrews magnitude, although without Julie's voice. She became ill not long after the show started its run, was ill through most of the first year and a half, and died suddenly of undiagnosed liver cancer.

Yul Brynner, a smoker for most of his life, died of lung cancer in 1985 after 4,625 performances as the King of Siam. (He still found time for a major film career.) He recorded a public service announcement that was broadcast after his death, warning the public from beyond the grave of the consequences of smoking.

I heard an interview of him not long before his death when he described a conversation with Gertrude Lawrence after a show in New Haven where it was trying out. They went out together for coffee or something. The reaction of the audiences in New Haven had been disappointing. The two of them decided that, to save the show, they had to add the erotic element to their relationship, which had not been part of Hammerstein's intention.

Nice story, although its truth can probably never be verified.

[ScottyDoesn'tKnow2]

Posted: 3/15/15 at 2:12am

(Having said that, did KC really think that GCB was a good project for her to be a part of? How many actresses could have played her role on GCB? How many actresses could play Lily Garland on Broadway?)

Who knows? Maybe it read better on paper like a satire/comedic romp. I know there probably tons of projects that seem promising only to have it not turn out good. It seems like sometimes actors (who have choices and aren't starving) can't tell. Also, I'm sure Kristin Chenoweth is probably typecast and I'm unsure if there are tons of projects being offered to her on Broadway. It seems Kelli O'Hara's more standard-sounding soprano and white-bread looks means she can fit a lot more roles on stage. She's not a "personality" the way Chenoweth now is. It helps that O'Hara can actually act and do accents as well. She's done American Southern, Italian, and now British. Am I missing anything?

Btw, interesting about Brynner and Lawrence.


Updated On: 3/15/15 at 02:12 AM

[DAME]

Posted: 3/15/15 at 2:57am

I had put this up before. This is a live recording of the Overture of "King And I". This was recorded sometime during the revivals return engagement to the Broadway Theater when Yul Brynner was very ill . The conductor is Milton Rosenstock. Enjoy.
King And I Overture LIVE

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 3/15/15 at 3:00am

That Times article actually made me want to see this revival.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 3/15/15 at 3:05am

Is the Overture really truncated in this production? Is that confirmed? I saw one report so far that it may have been.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 3/15/15 at 3:10am

Fart poems are beautiful.

A fart is a chemical substance.
It comes from a place called Bum.
It penetrates through the trousers
and lands with a musical hum.
To fart to fart 'tis no disgrace
for it gives the body ease.
It warms the blankets on cold winter nights and suffocates all the fleas.

[DAME]

Posted: 3/15/15 at 3:16am

And I used to love Yul B's curtain call. Obviously at the end of this.




Act 2

Updated On: 3/15/15 at 03:16 AM