T minus seven

Field Report: Our Town at the Zach

The wonderful Zach Theatre in Austin, Texas just finished an interesting run of Our Town.  My friend Beth and her husband took their tween age son Ben to see it.   She reports:

We saw Our Town the other day.  Did I tell you about it?  A woman was TEXTING.  Jaston Williams (of Greater Tuna fame) was the narrator.  He stopped and said, “One thing we don’t have in Our Town is cell phones.  Yes, the lady in black on the third row.  It has an off button.  Just turn it off.”  She finally turned it off and handed it to another woman (her mom?).  Jeff, Ben and I all looked at each other and said we were glad that our phone hadn’t rung.  Then in the second act for the wedding scene, they had us move to another stage where it was set up for a wedding.  They had a woman singing, champagne for purchase, dancing where they invited the audience to participate, and then passed out wedding cake to everyone in the audience.  It was a good one for Ben to go to.

Hell to the yes, please!

Last night I heard from an insider at A Little Night Music that there was the possibility of a Big Broadway Star stepping in and saving the show from closing on June 20th.    This morning, we got the news from Playbill that Bernadette Peters! and Elaine Stritch*! are possibly taking on the roles of mother and daughter Armfeldt.  Hell to the yes, please!   I still don't care for the production itself, but there is still the music and those roles.  The music! Those roles!  

Years ago, when I met Mr. Sondheim at that party and he told me that "Angie would be perfect as the Old Lady" in Night Music...Bernadette was standing next to him.  We both said to her, "And you'd be perfect as Desirée."    

All along, I thought that the role of Desirée works better when played by an older woman - afterall, she's starting to think that her career is ending...and she has a child whom her former lover is surprised about.   Hello, listen to Send in the Clowns.  That's part of what makes it interesting.   Sorry, but younger people just aren't that interesting -  they haven't LIVED. 

And if they wait to start sometime in July, Kate Baldwin might just be able to take on the role of Charlotte which she played the hell out of at Centerstage in Baltimore in 2008.

*If Angela would stay on it would be even more perfect, but then you run the risk of me being completely possessed and in dire need of an exorcist!

Love this: Tony Express Culture: vanityfair.com

Slideshow:  Tony Express Culture: vanityfair.com

Patti will make a point to sing out at New York City Ballet!

Patti LuPone will make her New York City Ballet debut in “The Seven Deadly Sins”!

Announced to the The New York Times, 5/27/10

Quote of the Day

“[Gunn] believes that musical theater performers can learn from opera singers about being more attentive to the 'musical requests' of a composer. But he also believes the opera world can take a page from musicals. Musical theatre people, he says, 'don’t really care so much if you have to change a note or transpose something or get rid of a couple of measures. the point is to tell the story. Period. And I think opera can learn from that – that that is the point of all this music-making.'"

Nathan Gunn  from Spotlight on Singing & Music, "Voice 10, acting…10, The New Breed of Opera Stars Who Work on Their Characterizations" by Mark Dundas Wood,  5/20-26, 2010 issue of Backstage  (the article also focuses on Angela Brown, Paulo Szot, and Linda Watson)

Pictured is Nathan Gunn with Patricia Racette and Susan Graham, from one of my favorite theatrical pieces: the opera of  An American Tragedy by composer Tobias Picker, libretto by Gene Scheer, based on the Theodore Dreiser novel. 

(photo by Sara Krulwich/The New York Times)

Happy Mame Day, Part 2!

And then just hours after I waxed on about my desire for a revival of MAME, Broadwayworld reports:  "[Jerry Herman] has very exciting news to impart: "There's a great interest in doing a new Mame. I have wonderful producers who are interested in doing it and we're going to have a couple of meetings next month to see if we can come up with a star. It's so difficult to cast that show. Of everything I've ever written, I think that's the toughest one. It's because she has to do everything. She has to, first of all, be a LADY and then she has to be a comedienne, then she has to sing her ass of, then she has to dance her ass off. She also has to be a beautiful, sensitive actress. Now where do you find all that in one person if it's not Angela Lansbury? It's very tough."

I say - Jerry, talk to Donna Murphy!

Happy Mame Day!

Last night, at the 55th Drama Desk Awards, Angela Lansbury presented composer/lyricist Jerry Herman with a Drama Desk special award to recognize excellence and significant contributions to the theater, specifically for "enchanting and dazzling audiences with his exuberant music and heartfelt lyrics for more than half a century". 

On this day, in 1966, his musical MAME opened at the Winter Garden Theatre where it ran until October, 1969.  It transferred to the Broadway Theatre where it ran another six months until January, 1970.   It played a total of 1,513 performances.   It garnered five Tony Awards, including Best Actress for Angela Lansbury, Best Supporting Actress for Bea Arthur, Best Musical, Best Composer and Lyricist for Jerry Herman, and Best Featured Actor in a Musical for Frankie Michaels.

During the run, Celeste Holm, Ann Miller, Jane Morgan, Janis Paige and Sheila Smith all had a go at playing Mame.   Angela Lansbury herself took it on the road, including a long sit down in Los Angeles. 

MAME has had one revival.  In 1983, an attempt was made to revive it, again with Angela Lansbury.  She was 17 years older and although as fabulous as ever, perhaps couldn't kick quite so high.  For whatever reason, the stars didn't align again and it only ran for a disappointing 48 performances. 

In 2006, the Kennedy Center produced a production of MAME starring Christine Baranski as Mame and Harriet Harris as Vera Charles.   I loved it and hoped it would transfer, although it was not to be.   

However, I've been hoping for a revival ever since.  I know its imperative for a revival to be at least as good as its original, if not better at least completely different.  And for a role of this stature it has to be somebody who transcends the ordinary leading lady.   After seeing Donna Murphy in the Encores! production of Anyone Can Whistle at City Center earlier this year,  I've launched a grass roots campaign to see her star as Mame in a revival.

Last year, Jerry Herman was also honored with a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre.  Given the fact that his La Cage Aux Folles is a hit on Broadway, it's time the current generation to get a taste of his other shows (his Hello Dolly! was the first big "Broadway" show I saw on tour circia 1995 and its original star, Carol Channing was still touring in it).  If there ever was a time to do it, the time is now - Jerry Herman deserves a renaissance.

The Third Act of Marian Seldes

This year, Marian Seldes is awarded a much deserved Special Tony Award® for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre.


These beautiful videos are excerpts of the The Third Act of Marian Seldes a documentary film by Circuitpity:

La Diva says, "I want my MTV!

Several weeks ago, La Diva Renée Fleming tweeted that she filmed a "MTV-style video of Endlessly", the single from her upcoming cross-over album Dark Hope.  El Cultural.es has posted the resulting video on its site - click here to watch.

Holland Taylor's Play about Ann Richards

A play about Ann Richards?! Written and performed by Holland Taylor?!  This clipping out of the Houston Chronicle arrived in the mail yesterday from my Aunt Diane, who wrote, "This made me think of you."

Indeed, anybody who knows me well knows I am a dedicated admirer of the late great Governor Ann Richards.  As a character, woman, a politician, Texan, and all around great American, she was The Top in my book.   I used to coincidentally sit behind her sometimes at church in Austin and once I ran into her here on the Upper West Side.

If there ever was the perfect subject for a stage comedy and/or drama, Ann Richards' life certainly provides perfect inspiration - she lived it all - poverty, education, alcoholism, divorce, children, grandchildren, public service, great humor, and last but not least friends in high and low places. 

The fact that Holland Taylor, who was born and raised in Pennsylvania and has spent most of her life in New York City and Hollywood, was inspired by Richards' life is a testament to her far reaching impact.

The two-act play, "Money, Marbles and Chalk!", already ran last weekend at The Grand in Galveston.  It's an "affectionate sketch of Richards at both her most vibrant and most vulnerable, and was meticulously researched by Taylor", says the Galveston Daily News.  Apparently, it's set up as a college commencement address and includes anecdotes from the Governor's friends and family and even recipes (yes, she knew how to make cornbread!).  

It sounds perfect to me.  I hope Ms. Taylor's play is published and gets a run here in New York.  She's spent time on the stage here as it is, plus Ann Richards became a "Texpatriate" when she became a New Yorker and took a job as a consultant.

Then, there's that time when Holland Taylor stepped on my foot.  At least, I'm pretty sure it was her.  And yes, she apologized. 

UPDATE:  Money, Marbles, and Chalk: an Affectionate Sketch of Ann Richards will play the Paramount Theatre in Austin, Texas on Friday, December 17, 2010 @ 8pm

Can we just photoshop her in?

The 2010 Tony Nominees gathered yesterday for the annual luncheon and class photo at the Plaza Hotel. There's just one person missing: Kate Baldwin. Of course, it's wonderful that she's across the pond making her London debut in the new Hal Prince musical Paradise Found at the Menier Chocolate Factory . I just wish we could magically materialize her here for all of the awards celebrations, especially since this is her first time being nominated for a Drama Desk and a Tony Award (although I know there are many, many more nominations to come in what I know will be a phenomenal career)!   

Photo: Larry Busacca/Wireimage.com (slightly enhanced by SarahB)

2nd Annual Awards by the Independent Theater Bloggers Association!

The Independent Theater Bloggers Association recognizes the outstanding productions, theater companies and individuals of the 2009/2010 season with its Second Annual Awards. Announcing the recipients are Susan Blackwell, Jeannine Frumess and Ann Harada, all currently appearing in The Kid.



OUTSTANDING NEW BROADWAY PLAY
Red

OUTSTANDING BROADWAY PLAY REVIVAL
A View From The Bridge

OUTSTANDING NEW BROADWAY MUSICAL
American Idiot

OUTSTANDING BROADWAY MUSICAL REVIVAL
La Cage Aux Folles

OUTSTANDING NEW OFF-BROADWAY PLAY
Circle Mirror Transformation

OUTSTANDING NEW OFF-BROADWAY MUSICAL
Yank!

OUTSTANDING OFF-BROADWAY REVIVAL
The Glass Menagerie

OUTSTANDING OFF-OFF BROADWAY SHOW
Viral

OUTSTANDING SOLO SHOW
A Boy And His Soul

OUTSTANDING ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE
Circle Mirror Transformation

CITATIONS FOR EXCELLENCE BY INDIVIDUAL PERFORMERS
Nina Arianda, Venus In Fur
Kate Baldwin, Finian's Rainbow
Desiree Burch, The Soup Show
Rebecca Comtois, Viral
Viola Davis, Fences
Jon Michael Hill, Superior Donuts
Douglas Hodge, La Cage Aux Folles
Sarah Lemp, The Pied Pipers of the Lower East Side & Happy In The Poorhouse
Laura Linney, Time Stands Still
Jan Maxwell, The Royal Family & Lend Me A Tenor
Bobby Steggert, Ragtime & Yank!
Amy Lynn Stewart, Viral

Mitzi Gaynor at Feinstein's = Dazzling!

Mitzi Gaynor  is performing at  Feinstein's at the Regency until May 29th!  Part concert, part autobiography, it's all dazzle and is titled fittingly "Razzle Dazzle! My Life Behind the Sequins".

I grew up watching Mitzi in the movie musicals on AMC - especially South Pacific and  There's No Business Like Show Business so I had to accept the invitation from Feinstein's to come see the show.

Believe it or not, after a life time of making movies and doing her own show on the road as well as on television specials, Mitzi never performed in New York City.  She said, "For 60 years, I've been fighting coming to New York, but you're just like me, only better!"

Perhaps, she saved the best for last.  While there are no big dance numbers and the band is reduced to a four piece (including an unnecessary synthesizer), it's heartfelt, very special and one of the most fun evenings in a night club in New York City in a very long time.   She sings some hits from most known movies as well as some appropriate cabaret tunes.

Mitzi shared some personal stories about her life in show business - how she got started, her love affair with Howard Hughes (and how he insisted that she invest in a couple of plots of land just off the Vegas strip), her wonderful marriage to Jack Bean and her career - through side-splitting stories and song.  Especially funny were the yarns she spun about her There's No Business Like Show Business co-star Ethel Merman, whom she always referred to as "Mom".  

In fact, two of the funniest stories I've ever heard in my life, included the Merm.  One was when she was a newlywed and had just flown to New York City to be a part of the premier of There's No Business Like Show Business.   "Mom" called her up and invited her to dinner at "Elmers" (El Morocco) with the Windsas...who turned out to be the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.   She re-enacted getting ready for the evening - complete with a description of putting on her cincher which sounds like quite a chore for the very shapely and buxom Mitzi (I don't dare try it).     The other story involved Merman and her best friend Betty Bruce (Tessie Tura in the original Gypsy) with a gallon of Dom Perignon in the back of  a Rolls Royce limo visiting Mitzi when she was doing a show at a Jersey casino. 

The show included clips from Mitzi's movies and television specials and appearances.  Each time the clips were shown, she took the opportunity to change in to yet another Bob Mackie designed gown, each one sparklier than the next.  I was in sparkle heaven!   Mitzi is 78 years old and is as sexy and vibrant as they come - as well as very, very baudy.

A special event also occurred - she was presented with 2010 New York area Emmy Award for Outstanding Entertainment Program/Special for her PBS musical documentary, “Mitzi Gaynor: Razzle Dazzle! The Special Years”.  She was unable to attend the awards ceremony last month, so it was presented this evening.    

The show is in the ballroom instead of the main night club and was filled to capacity.   Being opening night, the room was full of celebrities, including Michael Feinstein, Chita Rivera, Tommy Tune, Poggy Bergen, Clive Davis, Joy Behar and Paul Shaffer as well as reviewers and Broadway journalists.   The Theatre Aficionado had the opportunity to mingle after the show, glasses of champagne in hand, and tell Mitzi how much we adore her.

Seeing Mitzi Gaynor at Feinstein's, in her New York debut, is something that is not to be missed.  She'll be there until the 29th - already a week longer than planned.  She'll play Tuesday through Thursday at 8:30 PM and Friday and Saturday at 8:00 PM.  All shows have a $75 cover with  $95.00 premium seats available, in addition to a $40 drink/beverage minimum.   Tickets are avilable via http://www.feinsteinsatloewsregency.com/ and TicketWeb.com or at (212)339-4095. 

Deborah Polaski with the Met Orchestra

On Sunday afternoon, we attended the Met Orchestra's concert at Carnegie Hall - one of the few chances the sublime orchestra gets out of the pit and on to the stage.   The afternoon was conducted by 85 year old Pierre Boulez who made his Met Orchestra debut.   The program included Bartok's "The Wooden Prince" and Schoenberg’s “Erwartung” which is a short one act opera about a woman who is searching for her lover in the woods. 

It was sort of an "Into the Woods" sort of afternoon, but there were no fairy tale characters in site.  This was more the Black Forest.  The Bartok piece approximately one hour long and was written as a ballet featuring a young prince journeying to meet his princess.  It's lush and frightenly intense with the only relief of whimsical sounds briefly coming from the percussion section and the sound of the cellists tapping their instruments with their bows. 

The second piece is what we came for - Deborah Polaski sang Ewartung.   I previously heard it performed with the Met Orchestra in January 2006 by Anja Silja.   At that point, I had never heard anything so frightening in my life.   I joke that after I had to go home and lay down.    Sally and I heard Polaski sing Elektra - which is every scarier - with the New York Philharmonic at the end of last season.  Since then, I had been determined to hear Polaski sing live again.    While the piece is a psychologically scary - a woman is rendezvouzing with her lover in the woods, panics when she becomes disoriented, then finds him dead, then thinks that perhaps she did, then blames him for neglecting her all compacted into an intense and mind blowing half hour - Polaski managed to also make it sound beautiful.  Her voice is so powerful and unbelievably soul stirring.  The tones are of the thickest and richest molten gold.   Even above the bohemith Met Orchestra, she can be heard  - it's the most beautiful controlled screaming I've ever heard.   She made me feel empathy, rather than fright, of the agony the woman was experiencing.  

Now that she's performed with Met Orchestra at Carnegie, perhaps the Met Opera will bring her in the house in a near season.   Otherwise, we may have to break out the passports. 

Time to Give for Broadway Cares

I took an alternate route yesterday after leaving my office and stumbled upon Audemars Piguet's windows for Broadway Cares.   Via charitybuzz, Audemar Piguet is auctioning a number of watches that have been engraved with the signatures of some Broadway stars.  Haven't got the bucks for one of these?  Broadway Cares offers a couple of options in its online store.

Send in the Replacements?

The current revival of Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music was one of the most anticipated revivals of the last season - and perhaps of the last 5 years, at least for me.   However, despite the brilliant casting of Angela Lansbury and the star quality of Catherine Zeta-Jones, the drab and minimalist production has been a disappointment. 

I attended the first preview and left feeling very disappointed. After a second trip, where I was seated in a better seat, I liked the show better if only for the cast.  I will go once more, if only for what might be a final chance to see Angela Lansbury in a Broadway production.

A transfer from the West End under the direction of Sir Trevor Nunn, the show began previews on November 24th and opened on December 13th.  As of today, there have been 188 performances. By contrast, the original ran for 601 performances in 1973.

It has earned only four Tony nominations: Best Revival of a Musical, Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical for Catherine Zeta-Jones, Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical for Angela Lansbury, and Best Sound Design of a Musical for sound designers Dan Moses Schreier and Gareth Owen.

Angela Lansbury, as Madame Armfeldt, was originally only contracted for a limited run but was persuaded to extend until June 20th, which is also Catherine's last day.   From almost day one, there has been endless chatting and conjecture about who would replace these two stars playing mother and daughter- and in my opinion, as for Angela's role, who could. 

At first, the mother-daughter roles were allegedly offered to Blithe Danner and her daughter Gwyneth Paltrow for a little stunt casting.   While I find them only mildly interesting, I believe they both could have tackled the roles as accomplished actresses.   As recently as a few weeks ago, Debbie Reynolds admitted that she was offered the role as Madame Armfeldt, but subsequently turned it down.  I think that would have been head-scratching casting.     An Insider further tells me that "the numbers of who were approached and passed on it are staggering.  Stars just don't want to be replacements."

Perhaps they don't.   I believe that had the production itself been worthy of an extended run - and not so damn expensive where even the worst balcony seats in the entire theatre district cost over $50 - so-called stars would have been lining up to play the roles, throwing aside the stigma of "replacement".  

However, the producers have launched a last ditch effort with a casting notice in the May 13-19 issue of Backstage.   There's the possibility that should the ladies win the Tony - Catherine's first and Angela's record-breaking sixth - then perhaps they would be further persuaded to extend into the summer months of tourists.   Personally, while I keep my fingers crossed for that sixth Tony for Angela, I don't see an extension happening.

So, I'll wait for another revival someday...maybe when I'm old enough to play Madame Armfeldt myself. 

Quote of the Day

"I once put that question to the great soprano Leontyne Price.  She said, 'Oh, darling, sometimes I pop open a bottle of champagne and listen to my records all afternoon.'  Her point was, if you don't love your voice, how can you expect other people to?  That was a bit of a shock to me.  I'm from the American Midwest, where a lot of self-deprecation goes a long way!  But it taught me a lesson, that if I don't believe I have something to say, then it's a bit presumptuous of me to put it on disc for all eternity.  I do listen to my recordings, but primarily to learn things from them."

Joyce DiDonato, effervescentt mezzo soprano and Yankee Diva, on listening to her recordings to Gramophone, May 2010

I love it!  A Quote of the Day within a Quote of the Day!   The other bit of information in this article by John von Rhein that excites me most is "[she] will be taking on, for the first time, the vocally strenuous role of the eponymous Scottis queen in Maria Stuarda, a portrayal she is scheduled to to unveil in Houston in 2012 before bringing it to the Met."  Yes!

Good Morning La Cage!

Philanthropy Divas

After enjoying the Met Orchestra concert at Carnegie Hall today, Sally and I were thumbing through the back of the program, perusing the lists of big donors. It's easy to be a little envious of rich people - as Kari says, "I'm already happy, so imagine how happy I'd be if I was rich." We fantasize about being to see anything and everything - and even giving a large donation to our favorite arts institutions (so we can choose the material and the cast!). As much as we do - and we are Friends of Carnegie, the NY Phil, Lincoln Center and Guild Members - it's not even microscopic compared to what Mercedes Bass and so many others like Ann Ziff and especially Dr. Agnes Varis do. I'm pretty glad these philantropist like opera and classical music too.

From May 2010 Vogue: 

 

Dmitri Hvorostovsky = Russian, Baritone, Opera Hunk, Pin Up God

Quick!  Get yourself to your local newstand!   Dmitri Hvorovstsky is on the cover of the June issue of BBC Music Magazine.   There are some words about his career and his newest recordings, but I bought it for the pictures.