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| re: Bernadette with an asterisk? | |
| Posted by: ryhog 10:13 pm EDT 07/05/17 | |
| In reply to: Bernadette with an asterisk? - DistantDrumming 08:34 pm EDT 07/05/17 | |
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| Maybe but as Dramedy notes, her record in recent years as an audience magnet is underwhelming. I also question if she wants to go out on a Jerry Herman musical. But at least there is a conversation possible about her, as opposed to most of the other names being bandied about. | |
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| How did Night Music sell with her and Stritch? | |
| Posted by: DistantDrumming 11:18 pm EDT 07/05/17 | |
| In reply to: re: Bernadette with an asterisk? - ryhog 10:13 pm EDT 07/05/17 | |
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| Much smaller production, I know (UGH, hopefully the age of teeny tiny Sondheim revivals is passing), but didn't she extend the life of that production after replacing, arguably at the time, a bigger star? As for Follies, who can say? Any role in Follies is a small fish compared to headlining Dolly, don't you think? | |
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| re: How did Night Music sell with her and Stritch? | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 12:24 am EDT 07/06/17 | |
| In reply to: How did Night Music sell with her and Stritch? - DistantDrumming 11:18 pm EDT 07/05/17 | |
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| Grosses for Night Music went down notably when Peters and Stritch replaced Zeta-Jones and Lansbury. Having said that, it still ran six months with them, and it paid off during their run. But grosses dropped by a lot. Still, I do think that absent getting some huge star who is not known for doing theatre to take over, the best bet would be either Peters or LuPone, if indeed LuPone is willing to take one more lead in a musical, despite her recent statement. Grosses would go way down, but I think that the production might last a few more months without grosses going so low that the production would be failing to break even most weeks. The questions would be whether Rudin might prefer for the production to go out as a hot ticket, and whether either of those ladies would want to take it on under the circumstances. There would also be the danger that grosses might drop enough for it to not even last a few months. Would either of those ladies want to risk being the replacement who couldn't even keep it running a few months? I do tend to think that would not happen, but I might be wrong. |
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| re: How did Night Music sell with her and Stritch? | |
| Posted by: JereNYC (JereNYC@aol.com) 11:43 am EDT 07/06/17 | |
| In reply to: re: How did Night Music sell with her and Stritch? - AlanScott 12:24 am EDT 07/06/17 | |
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| Catherine Zeta-Jones in A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC was an event, just like Bette Midler in HELLO, DOLLY!, just on a smaller scale. Here we had an another Oscar-winning actress making her Broadway debut...and in a musical...which is still not a common thing. Midler, at least, had made a career performing live on stage in her own concerts and had previously appeared on Broadway prior to stardom. Zeta-Jones hadn't been on a stage since her days in 42ND STREET in London, long before anyone on these shores had ever heard of her. Peters taking over was also noteworthy because it was the first time she'd ever replaced on Broadway and that she was coming in with Stritch in what we knew was going to be Stritch's last turn on Broadway. I was not alone in thinking that Peters was even better in the role than Zeta-Jones had been and that Desiree really fit her like a glove. Even Stritch's memory issues (which were bad the night I attended) couldn't bring down a wonderful evening. Had Lansbury stayed on to play with Peters, the pairing would likely have been legendary. It's interesting that the production ran for 6 months with Peters and Stritch and I wonder if that's because 6 months was the end of their contracts or if box office fell off enough to close the show. My guess would be that it was the end of the contracts. I wonder if Peters could replicate that success with HELLO, DOLLY!...a six month run would be respectable and, if she could keep receipts in the Donna Murphy $900K/wk vicinity, the production would stay in the black. |
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| re: How did Night Music sell with her and Stritch? | |
| Posted by: KingSpeed 01:04 am EDT 07/08/17 | |
| In reply to: re: How did Night Music sell with her and Stritch? - JereNYC 11:43 am EDT 07/06/17 | |
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| Bette isn't an Oscar winning actress. Signed, Sally Field |
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| re: How did Night Music sell with her and Stritch? | |
| Posted by: BruceinIthaca 07:11 pm EDT 07/06/17 | |
| In reply to: re: How did Night Music sell with her and Stritch? - JereNYC 11:43 am EDT 07/06/17 | |
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| I had no interest in seeing ALNM with Zeta-Jones and, while I love Lansbury, she was not enough to get me there. Interestingly, the prospect of seeing Peters and Stritch (particularly in the same production!) did get me to drive down to see it on a sweltering Saturday. I saw The Grand Manner at the matinee, and loved it--a funny, elegant play with superb performances by all four of the actors, and then an evening performance. The gods were smiling--Stritch only seemed to reach for one line, and I was seated in the orchestra near where Peters did "Send in the Clowns." I thought it was lovely, and I liked Stritch's take on Madame Armfeldt (I had seen Gingold in the movie, where her role was so reduced, and Margaret Hamilton in the National Tour, but from a seat up with the gods in the Shubert in Chicago). I drove the four hours home to Ithaca that night in what felt like a fever-dream. I think Peters and Lansbury would have been exquisite, but I loved the juxtaposition of Peters and Stritch (and I have always been a fan of both). |
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| re: How did Night Music sell with her and Stritch? | |
| Posted by: ryhog 01:57 pm EDT 07/06/17 | |
| In reply to: re: How did Night Music sell with her and Stritch? - JereNYC 11:43 am EDT 07/06/17 | |
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| maybe we won't have to wonder. (or maybe we will) As I mentioned, NIght Music closed immediately after the holidays. It's last 2 weeks were in the 6-700k range but the previous December frames were all in the 400s, so technically and not surprisingly it went out strong but it had been suffering. (I have no idea if that informs anything about Dolly's prospects but trudging through January and February will likely not be pretty, and one can only wonder what would happen in the spring with a lot of new enticements for the core audience for Peters/Dolly. I remain a pessimist on this.) |
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| re: How did Night Music sell with her and Stritch? | |
| Posted by: ryhog 01:19 am EDT 07/06/17 | |
| In reply to: re: How did Night Music sell with her and Stritch? - AlanScott 12:24 am EDT 07/06/17 | |
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| None of us knows anything. I'm voting for a January close, but I think Peters is 3 times as likely to say yes if asked. (Personally I don't think either of them were born to play this role.) The parallel with Night Music is imperfect in terms of timing. They took over in July and stayed until the new year. What this would be asking of the replacement would be to start at the worst possible moment. | |
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