Threaded Order Chronological Order
| did they ever consider Gwen Verdon? Or approach Julie Andrews? | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 05:31 am EDT 06/21/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Could the original have run longer with bigger star replacements? - AlanScott 10:05 pm EDT 06/20/18 | |
|
|
|
| I would have really loved to see her do this role... I think in many ways it is ideally suited to her. I have no idea if she can do accent, or play the dark drama of it, but I think seeing her try would have been so interesting. And she was surely still a name to many people especially on Broadway. To match her with a project like this would have been newsworthy I'd think. I also wonder if they approached Julie Andrews, who could at least do the accent, and would have been fascinating in the role and a big draw. What about Georgia Brown? Or Cleo Laine? Even Penny Fuller (not much of a name I assume but probably very capable for the role)? Or what about Millicent Martin or Julia McKenzie? |
|
| reply to this message |
| re: did they ever consider Gwen Verdon? Or approach Julie Andrews? | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 12:53 pm EDT 06/24/18 | |
| In reply to: did they ever consider Gwen Verdon? Or approach Julie Andrews? - Chazwaza 05:31 am EDT 06/21/18 | |
|
|
|
| I don't think Verdon could have done the accent — her English accent in Redhead was not at all convincing, but for that show it didn't need to be — or that she could have sung it at that point in her career. As JereNYC says below, her singing became very limited over time. I agree that otherwise she might have brought interesting qualities to the role. I responded to bobby2 about Andrews. Georgia Brown probably would have needed some big vocal adjustments made to the role and would not have been a draw. Admittedly, Loudon needed one vocal adjustment, but otherwise she could sing it, although she wasn't really able to do the accent. Cleo Laine is an interesting idea, but although she might have been very good in the role, I don't think even she was the kind of draw that would have been needed for Broadway audiences. Penny Fuller would have brought three people to the box office, which is perhaps more than Julia McKenzie (who did later play it to acclaim in London) would have brought. Millicent Martin (who I think never played the role) would have brought seven people to the box office. She probably would have been very good, but it would have died a very quick death unless Paul Newman had played Sweeney opposite her. Fuller and McKenzie might also have seemed a bit young for the role at the time. |
|
| reply to this message |
| re: did they ever consider Gwen Verdon? Or approach Julie Andrews? | |
| Posted by: JereNYC (JereNYC@aol.com) 12:07 pm EDT 06/21/18 | |
| In reply to: did they ever consider Gwen Verdon? Or approach Julie Andrews? - Chazwaza 05:31 am EDT 06/21/18 | |
|
|
|
| Would Gwen Verdon have been up to playing Mrs. Lovett at that point in her life? Did Verdon do any stage work at all after she left CHICAGO? Though Mrs. Lovett would be easy movement show for a virtuoso like her, I wonder if she could have handled the singing. The most recent Fosse bio from a couple of years ago points out that a lifetime of smoking really took its toll on Verdon's voice and that people were pointing that out even by the midpoint in her career. For what it's worth, that bio also points out that the smoking was even taking its toll on her dancing, but I imagine that Verdon's worst day dancing was probably miles above what mere mortals could achieve on their best days. |
|
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
Time to render: 0.009273 seconds.