What musical should Meron and Zadan do next?- Page 18

[Gothampc]

Posted: 12/12/13 at 9:24am

I imagine if they did Fiddler On The Roof, it would be "Starring Homeland's Mandy Patinkin." And it would go on for five hours because Mandy would reach for every crescendo he could find. Eighth notes would turn into whole notes as Mandy stretched them from here to eternity.

I would love to see Valerie Harper as Golde. It's not a common choice, but I think she would be fun in the role.

Of course Lea Michele would be the daughter with the most screen time.

Updated On: 12/12/13 at 09:24 AM

[ggersten]

Posted: 12/12/13 at 10:13am

Tzeitel gets screen time - but no separate song. Hodel gets "Far From The Home I Love" so, to me, that's the star daughter.
I do wonder about a Fox Freak Out over showing Fiddler around Xmas.
The problem with Fiddler casting is that the leads are ... older than Maria and are played older. Tevye and Golda were probably married at 18-19 with Tzeitel born a year later. Tzeitel may be 18, so Tevye is only 36-40. But, that still takes he and Golda out of the "recording artist" hot spot. Except maybe Garth Brooks as Tevye? (just kidding...sort of). So, the pop stars would be Tzeitel and Hodel, Motel and Perchik. And that creates a marketing problem - it's easy to market Carrie Underwood STARRING AS MARIA. Kelly Clarkson featured as Tzeitel?

If I were NBC, I think I would go with Kelly Clarkson in Annie Get Your Gun. Miley Cyrus would have been a choice before her recent attempts to be what a young person views as "adult" which takes her out of "family friendly". I think Lady Gaga as Peter Pan would be good - but don't think Gaga would be viewed as "family friendly".

Meanwhile, it will be interesting to see how many viewers ABC gets with the Julie Andrews film version of Sound of Music.

[JayG 2]

Posted: 12/12/13 at 10:30am

Drat! The Cat! with Justin Timberlake (in his nerdy glasses) and Miley Cyrus (in that sexy cat costume)
She singing "Wild and Reckless" He singing "I'm in Love with the Cat " while tied in chains.
Who cares if the title is unknown. They would draw millions of viewers!! It even includes a pop standard that was used a tv commercial!
Now, THAT I would pay to see.

[PrinceCaspian]

Posted: 12/12/13 at 10:32am

WEST SIDE STORY!

[best12bars]

Posted: 12/12/13 at 10:38am

Such a difficult show to pull off. If you cast pop stars as Tony and Maria, and then get legit dancers/singers (mostly theatre folks) for the rest ... maybe. But would they attempt the Jerome Robbins choreography? And if not, get ready for the haters.

Still with two pop leads, the show is certainly familiar, and doing it live would likely get the big numbers again. I just think they'd be nuts to attempt it. ... But maybe that's exactly why people would tune in.

[all that jazz]

Posted: 12/12/13 at 10:40am

I know she's not big enough, but Megan Hilty's As Long As He Needs ME, would be soul melting.

I don't think Adele's would be that strong. If we're going with british pop stars, I'd say Jessie J, but judging from her MFT, Kelly Clarkson I believed would also do the part justice.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 12/12/13 at 10:40am

Elaborating on my point about THE KING AND I -- While i agree most can understand that the show is both a depiction of a specific time in history - and is in itself a product of the global perspective of a certain time in history (meaning the 1950s when R&H wrote it) -- I could see 'some' taking NBC to task for choosing a musical that depicts polygamy, subservient Asian women, and a ballet with oriental twists on strong Black stereotypes (Uncle Toms Cabin).

Like I said -- I'm not saying any such criticisms wouldn't in themselves be a little bit 'much' - but if I were an NBC Exec - my line of thinking now would be -- 'why go there?'

There are many other shows (even R&H shows) that would be more suitable.

I think the biggest problem with FIDDLER is finding leads with the kind of huge drawing potential that a lot of other titles would be easier to populate.

I don't think you could get away with Hugh Jackman as Tevye...

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 12/12/13 at 11:17am

I can just imagine the facebook and twitter feeds blowing up during a live broadcast of WEST SIDE STORY:

This sucks! They cut out the guys from America!!! It's only the girls...this doesn't make sense! Stoopid!! You ruined a classic! #westsidestorylivesucksthebigone

OMG! OMG! OMG! Officer Krupke is being sung AFTER the rumble?!!! How does this even make sense?!!! They're supposed to be mourning Riff's death...not clowning around!!! If it ain't broke don't fix it!! I just wanna cry right now!!!

WTF?!!! A ballet?!!! In the middle of the show?!! Tony and Maria are supposed to sing "Somewhere" to each other in the bedroom. These people do not know WSS...the ORIGINAL is way better!! #westsidestorydumb@ssballet

Huh?!! What's going on?!! Why did they switch Cool...why is Riff singing it? In the movie he's dead when they do this song?!! Did they make a mistake?!! I am confused.
#westsidestorylivepeicfail

[dreaming]

Posted: 12/12/13 at 11:22am

State Fair is kind of family-friendly and the films aren't in the pantheon of great films in the same way as "The Sound of Music". That said, it's not holiday fare.

I like the "Fiddler" idea but am scratching my head over casting.

I think "Meet Me in St. Louis" has a lot of potential-you can get a few star casting folks in there. (Esther and Rose could be heavily stunt cast.) It's got a holiday theme going. A big problem is that Judy Garland originated Esther and she's such a legend that I'm not sure who would want to reprise the role.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 12/12/13 at 11:39am

The problem with Meet Me In St. Louis is that when it was performed on Broadway it bombed. So it's considered "untested" stage material.

Also, there's not a lot of plot there. The music is great but it's two hours of will the family move to NYC or stay in St. Louis and will Es and Rose find a man?

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 12/12/13 at 11:53am

Meet me in St. Louis was actually done live on television once before, in the 1950s starring Jane Powell. I actually think it would be a rather charming choice.

[dreaming]

Posted: 12/12/13 at 12:09pm

Goth-Most people don't WANT a lot of thought in musicals-they want a charming story. I love "The Sound of Music" (not the Underwood version-but I won't go there), but it's not exactly the most difficult piece to understand.

To reach your average viewer, just get something that's not too complicated with some pretty tunes-and "Meet Me in St. Louis" sure does that. (Lilla Crawford as Agnes?) And I think some charming ladies could be found for Rose and Esther, along with someone for the mother. I like the movie-I watch it in my holiday loop (and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" is a standard). I daresay it could be a terrific choice-it's family friendly, has catchy music ("The Trolley Song" is also pretty well known, and to a lesser extent "The Boy Next Door" and the theme song is rather famous).

[JohnyBroadway]

Posted: 12/12/13 at 12:16pm

When Fiddler was stated for TV originally, Victor Garber was in talks for Tevye. Could Garber play Fagin.

[dreaming]

Posted: 12/12/13 at 12:20pm

Geoffrey Rush would be even better.

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 12/12/13 at 12:21pm

Johnny Depp....

(I kid, I kid)

[Gothampc]

Posted: 12/12/13 at 1:20pm

"(Lilla Crawford as Agnes?)"

Sorry, Lilla Crawford is in my production of The Secret Garden and I'm not loaning her out to play Tootie.

[dreaming]

Posted: 12/12/13 at 1:28pm

Agnes, who is about eleven, is a better age for Crawford than Tootie, who is more Honey Boo Boo's age. (Not that I want HER cast.)

They'll never, ever do "The Secret Garden"-talk about too dark and adult. (It's also an unknown and undeserved flop.)

Oliver! or Meet Me in St. Louis are at least better known entities with recognizable songs.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 12/12/13 at 1:37pm

"They'll never, ever do "The Secret Garden"-talk about too dark and adult"

All little girls who can't belt Annie and are too old for Cosette want to play Mary Lennox.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 12/12/13 at 1:40pm

The Secret Garden could be an interesting choice. While the Lucy Simon/Marsha Norman version might not be as well known (though it is still performed fairly regularly by high schools, colleges, and community theaters), the title certainly is well known as it's still a staple of childhood literature. That being said, I would be pretty shocked if they did choose to air that at some point, especially as the follow-up to The Sound of Music.

[dreaming]

Posted: 12/12/13 at 1:49pm

I doubt that they will announce "The Secret Garden" as their next musical. (It will be something a lot more family friendly and 'bright' and 'cheerful'. A musical with singing ghosts, while lovely musically and otherwise, isn't going to bring in the audiences.)

[Gothampc]

Posted: 12/12/13 at 1:52pm

NBC is ready to announce that next year's show will be Kathie Lee Gifford in "Scandalous: The Aimee Semple McPherson Musical."

Old ladies will tune in because Kathie Lee reminds them of the daughter they wish they had. Old men will tune in because Kathie Lee still has a nice rack. Theater lovers will tune in because it is a cult classic like Carrie and they want to see what went wrong. Young people will tune in to experience a WTF? moment.

[PB ENT.]

Posted: 12/12/13 at 1:54pm

Looks like ALW is doing "Joseph" with talks of a future "CATS" film. Not that either of these need to be filmed again. That being said, it would likely take these 2 out of the running for overkill reasons, perhaps. I would love to see a professional production of "Secret Garden" with a stellar cast and gorgeous garden just because of the music alone. But agree that it's not your light and fluffy musical. I also think Hello Dolly or Music Man are good suggestions.

Here's the Joseph link:


http://www.thestage.co.uk/news/2013/12/andrew-lloyd-webber-confirms-joseph-film/

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 12/12/13 at 3:31pm

[MaddieBB12]

Posted: 12/12/13 at 8:19pm

While I think NBC will play it safe for the next couple of years, I think “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” would be great to do live once they got the swing of things and were willing to take a bit of a risk. What they could do is have people text/or call in to vote, like American Idol or Dancing with the Stars, for which ending they want to see. Marketing would have to be done very well, and they could even pair up with a cell phone company like Verizon or AT&T. Between the ‘choose the ending live’ angle, the fact that it is based on Charles Dickens’ unfinished book, and the name they would surely get, it could be great.

[Broadway Geek2]

Posted: 12/13/13 at 7:57am

Hairspray?