I think it depends on when you last saw Essen. I first saw him in Finian's Rainbow at the Irish rep. and thought his performance of the leading man was completely amateurish and boring. Then I saw him as Dr. Neville Craven in the Secret Garden benefit and found him to be quite tolerable, his voice was great that night and he held his own against Pasquale during "Lilly’s eyes." Then when I saw him in Desperate Measures last year he was perfect. He a lot of energy and some great passion to the role that showed that he had grown as actor over the last few years (his voice pretty much soared over the audience the day I saw him in that too). I think he is still growing as an actor, but I think he has already improved a lot and look forward to seeing him in Les Miz. WOw, that was longer than I expected, I just love new talent.
Everytime I see him I cant help but think of that character in the claymation holiday flick, Rudolph, that wants to be a dentist. What's the characters name?
Just listening to the NEO recording I don't find his voice all that strong, but to his credit, I've heard wonderful things about him in "The Baker's Wife." I'd love to hear his "Proud Lady."
Then I saw him as Dr. Neville Craven in the Secret Garden benefit and found him to be quite tolerable, his voice was great that night and he held his own against Pasquale during "Lilly’s eyes."
...but von Essen didn't play Neville.
That was Will Chase. von Essen was Albert Lennox.
"This thread reads like a series of White House memos." — Mister Matt
Lea Michelle would bring in more people than Mandy Bruno. Interesting. I'm not 100 percent sure about that. Mandy has a HUGE daytime drama fan base. Not to mention, she's uber-talented (not that Lea isn't). I think she'll bring in a lot of people - and perhaps people that wouldn't normally have gone in the first place.
Happy for her and the other replacements.. always good to mix things up a bit...
"A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men" - Willy Wonka
If Mandy does bring in a large fan base, maybe it will be extended even longer and I can hopefully see the show when I go to NYC to see the Little Mermaid in December!
I'm very surprised that these actors aren't seeing out the season at least. I mean, I've been the first one to say that this revival doesn't have a shot in hell at any Tony nominations, but if these actors ever did have a shot, they absolutely will not now.
I guess this was Max von Essen's "scheduling conflict" that made him unable to continue with FALSETTOS at George Street Playhouse. Obviously LES MIS is the smarter gig to take.
"Winning a Tony this year is like winning Best Attendance in third grade: no one will care but the winner and their mom."
-Kad
"I have also met him in person, and I find him to be quite funny actually. Arrogant and often misinformed, but still funny."
-bjh2114 (on Michael Riedel)
"I'm very surprised that these actors aren't seeing out the season at least. I mean, I've been the first one to say that this revival doesn't have a shot in hell at any Tony nominations, but if these actors ever did have a shot, they absolutely will not now."
Keep in mind that the revival was initially scheduled to run through April 22nd (which is why all their contracts are up at that time.)
Keenan-Bolger, Lewis, Lazar, and Galloway may not have been able to extend past that date without another standard renewal extention period (which is usually anywhere from three to six months,) and some of them may already be pursuing other projects that would render them unable to stay for a significant amount of time any longer than their original contracted end dates.
Tonya Pinkins: Then we had a "Lot's Wife" last June that was my personal favorite. I'm still trying to get them to let me sing it at some performance where we get to sing an excerpt that's gone.
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.
Galloway's departure is due to her visa expiring. She's only been permitted to perform the initial six month engagement; no extensions.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
Never was there a story of more woe, than that of Marius and his ho.
It can be the most exciting actor, but Marius has a pretty boring role.
"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view - until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."
To Kill A Mockingbird
* slightly off topic* wow jewishboy i don't know why i ever thought of Pasquale as George but your right! He'd be amazing! he's brilliant at almost anything but man would i love to see him nail the revival
*on topic. Damn I'll miss von Essen in Falsetto's but w/e we still got Colin Hanlon!! sad to see Celia
RIP Natasha Richardson. ~You were a light on this earth ~