The Music Man Revival post Jackman and Foster

I would give an arm and a leg for Ruthie Ann Miles to replace Sutton

I have a feeling this will re-coup (depending on advance) at record-breaking speed. If so, it just may close once Jackman and Foster contracts are up (after they've made a good amount of money for their investors of course).

TheSassySam said: "Joviedamian said: "I have a feeling this will re-coup (depending on advance) at record-breaking speed. If so, it just may close once Jackman and Foster contracts are up (after they've made a good amount of money for their investors of course)."

You'd think that happened to the recent revival of Hello, Dolly! but it didn't recoup until its final weeks."

'Bette giveth and Bette taketh away'...I am sure that her total income had a lot to do with that. I have no way of knowing, but does anyone on this board doubt that she made significantly more than anyone else ever on Broadway and that that limited the profits. I am not even suggesting she didn't earn her income, but the weekly operating costs became so high that the show was never going to make a huge return for its investors once it became solely about Bette Midler. A real conundrum...'if I hire a huge star, I will have a big hit while she is in it, but her income will result is profits being only modest...but there will be profits specifically because she is in it'. Makes you wonder whether Rudin would have ever done the show without her, and whether he ever expected it to last once she left.

On another board subject, people threw out names of potential replacements who were likely to be real box office attractions, maybe on the Jackman level for shorter periods of time. e.g., NPH may not be able to fill seats for something like The Music Man for a year, but I'll bet he could do it for 3 - 4 months post-Jackman, to be followed by...

Of course it is all predicated on this production getting great reviews and word of mouth being strong beyond Jackman. (I have to admit that there are parts of the show that I have always seen as being too damned old-fashioned, and have kept me personally from seeing the show as a Tier 1 musical. I think there are great parts, some terrific roles, etc., but there have always been parts where I have just tuned out. Note: I have my tickets, only because of HJ; a friend who likes HJ a lot (not fanatically) did not want tickets when asked because 'as much as I really want to see HJ, I don't want to see him enough to have to sit through MM to do so'. Will be interesting to see...20 or so months from now.

On this note, how long do we expect them to be in it? I figure Jackman will probably sign for a year but I'm more curious about Sutton, given potential conflict with Younger? I hope to see it next April but am less interested if Sutton's no longer in it, especially with these prices.

Andres_Zayas said: "I’d love to see either Seth MacFarlane or Chris Diamantopolous as Harold Hill, though I doubt McFarlane would have the time to do it or if either actor would be as big of a draw as Jackman."

I just hope that[nicely] Chris Diamantopolous never wins an award presented by John Travolta.

What is it with performers working with difficult names to spell and pronounce? Everyone can't be a John Smith or a Brad Pitt or a Rock Hard, but come on, really?

You'd run out of light bulbs with Chris Diam.......up there in lights!

I would have a name that rolls off the tongue, like Melody Dewdrop or Cecilia Sssssisson.

Now HJ and SF are cracker names for super stars.

Younger shoots in March through early summer. Its the 7th season, and most shows do 7 year contracts so yeah pretty sure this is the last season, not much story left to tell so it's a good time to wrap it up.

Kelli O'Hara should play Marian afterwards. Laura Osnes too.

Fosse76 said: "I'm more curious as to how a 44 year old woman's mother has a young son. Unless Winthrop is played as a mentally disabled adult, it was already a hard sell in earlier iterations."

Just because Sutton Foster is 44 doesn't mean Marian Paroo is 44. Patti Murin and Caissie Levy played characters around 20 years younger than themselves in Frozen. Since Marian's age is never stated outright, it doesn't really matter, but I'm going to assume she's just playing younger.

I’ve always thought Zac Levi would make a great Harold Hill. That being said, I iuld love to see Norm Lewis in it.