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Post by mrbarnaby on Nov 22, 2020 13:30:35 GMT
I couldn’t care less that she’s 62.. I think she’ll give a proper star performance in it.
I’ve seen too many productions where they’ve cast someone (in my opinion) too young or lacking the required charisma, and so I’m glad they’ve chosen someone who can sing, act, be hilarious, and hopefully dance .
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Post by Phantom of London on Nov 23, 2020 0:29:19 GMT
The multiple Tony winning South Pacific played the same venue and went down like a lead balloon.
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Post by Being Alive on Nov 23, 2020 1:38:56 GMT
The multiple Tony winning South Pacific played the same venue and went down like a lead balloon. I'd argue thats a bad comparison, the tour of that was hugely scaled down from the Lincoln Centre production and thus was always going to look sparse on the Barbican stage. |
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Post by mrbarnaby on Nov 23, 2020 2:34:16 GMT
Also Broadway had Kelli Ohara
We had Samantha Janus.
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Post by Someone in a tree on Nov 23, 2020 9:14:30 GMT
Robert Lindsay is currently on BBC he is looking forward to working with the great director Kathleen Harris - eh?!
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Post by ThereWillBeSun on Nov 23, 2020 10:31:48 GMT
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Post by Someone in a tree on Nov 23, 2020 10:47:46 GMT
Yikes. Barbican and TodayTix are more expensive than London Theatre Direct and you have the privilege of a booking fee
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Post by FrontrowverPaul on Nov 23, 2020 12:13:25 GMT
Some high ticket prices but I was happy to pay £60 for a central seat in the front row of stalls for the first weekday matinee. Decided to book direct despite the £3 booking fee.
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Nov 23, 2020 13:51:54 GMT
I wonder if MM will be playing the matinees or having scheduled days off?
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Post by Being Alive on Nov 23, 2020 14:15:20 GMT
I wonder if MM will be playing the matinees or having scheduled days off? If she's not doing matinees I'd assume we'd know that by now |
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Post by ThereWillBeSun on Nov 23, 2020 16:31:09 GMT
I wonder if MM will be playing the matinees or having scheduled days off? If she's not doing matinees I'd assume we'd know that by now I wonder if Sutton did all of her performances a week on Broadway, I am assuming so. |
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Post by Scswp on Nov 23, 2020 16:34:38 GMT
I wonder if MM will be playing the matinees or having scheduled days off? If she's not doing matinees I'd assume we'd know that by now It surely would have been announced if MM were not performing the matinee shows. She didn’t have an alternate for her role in ‘Young Frankenstein’ on Broadway, so I rather think she’ll be performing all eight shows a week here too. Sadly, when I saw YF on Broadway, she was off the night I went. I assume she was ill. Her understudy, judging by the performance of MM on the YF recording, delivered a direct imitation of her performance (certainly vocally). |
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Nov 23, 2020 16:57:17 GMT
She was quite a bit younger when she was in YF though wasn’t she? I don’t know anything about this show, is it very dance heavy for the Reno character or does she just have that big title routine? Is it all tap dancing or are there other styles?
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Post by danb on Nov 23, 2020 17:08:35 GMT
She was quite a bit younger when she was in YF though wasn’t she? I don’t know anything about this show, is it very dance heavy for the Reno character or does she just have that big title routine? Is it all tap dancing or are there other styles? [br Reno has another massive number fronting the ensemble; ‘Blow Gabriel Blow’ with a huge tap break in it but I don’t recall how much of that she does. Then she has a few mid tempo duets that are more soft shoe. Of course I’m basing this on the NT version. Lincoln Center may have radically rethought it all. |
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Post by Scswp on Nov 23, 2020 17:21:44 GMT
Yes, I think YF was 2008 - I may be wrong on that!
I think the dancing in Anything Goes can be adapted according to the performer playing Reno.
The dance routine in the song ‘Anything Goes’ is quite an extensive one. I think Elaine Paige performed part of the dance, but not all of it. In ‘Blow, Gabriel, Blow’, the dance section is very long, but when Paige played it, she performed very little of the routine herself. Sutton Foster’s performance was considerably more dance-heavy.
What I’m basically saying is that Reno’s dance ‘commitment’ is a very moveable goalpost. I suspect MM’s performance may be more in line with Paige’s (and LuPone’s) than Foster’s. We shall see...
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Post by ThereWillBeSun on Nov 23, 2020 17:39:15 GMT
Yes, I think YF was 2008 - I may be wrong on that! I think the dancing in Anything Goes can be adapted according to the performer playing Reno. The dance routine in the song ‘Anything Goes’ is quite an extensive one. I think Elaine Paige performed part of the dance, but not all of it. In ‘Blow, Gabriel, Blow’, the dance section is very long, but when Paige played it, she performed very little of the routine herself. Sutton Foster’s performance was considerably more dance-heavy. What I’m basically saying is that Reno’s dance ‘commitment’ is a very moveable goalpost. I suspect MM’s performance may be more in line with Paige’s (and LuPone’s) than Foster’s. We shall see... 'I think the dancing in Anything Goes can be adapted according to the performer playing Reno.' AGREED. |
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Nov 23, 2020 18:00:40 GMT
Even Sutton looked knackered after her routine in that clip, despite her actual dancing looking fabulous and effortless. They obviously built a few bars in where she had a chance to recover and catch her breath before the big finishing note. Loved the sailors too, with that funny sailors rolling gait. Very clever choreography.
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Post by princeton on Nov 23, 2020 18:44:18 GMT
In terms of tapping for Reno the league table is definitely the Kathleen Marshall 2011 Broadway choreography (for Sutton Foster), followed by the Stephen Mear choreography at the National (for Sally Ann Triplett) and, in third place, the Michael Smuin choreography for the Lincoln Centre version (initially for Patti LuPone in NY and then Elaine Paige in London). The relatively recent Sheffield version, choreographed by Alistair David and starring Debbie Kurrup, probably falls somewhere between the Broadway and the National in terms of amount of tapping for Reno. I suspect Marshall will very cleverly adapt her choreography so that the ensemble does most of the heavy lifting whilst Megan Mullally is positioned front and centre where necessary.
I've seen Mullally in three Broadway shows. In How To Succeed - she came across as exuberant, full of natural presence and a real up-and-coming talent. I found her performances in both Young Frankenstein and It's Only a Play to be fairly lacklustre - she no longer seemed at home on the stage and spirit of Karen Walker was all too obvious (though in fairness neither part or piece was particularly good). However she played Adelaide in a concert of Guys and Dolls at Carnegie Hall in 2014 (just before she did It's Only a Play) and knocked it out of the park - delivering comedy, pathos, great characterisation and fantastic acting through song. Given that there was only a few days of rehearsal just shows what can happen with the right mix of character and actor. All of which makes me pretty hopeful that she'll put her unique stamp on Reno Sweeney - even if it's without mega tapping or a traditional Broadway belt.
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Post by Phantom of London on Nov 23, 2020 19:00:07 GMT
The multiple Tony winning South Pacific played the same venue and went down like a lead balloon. I'd argue thats a bad comparison, the tour of that was hugely scaled down from the Lincoln Centre production and thus was always going to look sparse on the Barbican stage. Samantha Janus was the weak link, however having seen the Broadway production and the US tour in Los Angeles I would say it wasn’t scaled back, stage wise. Just poor casting. Paulo Szot came over for 3 weeks to garner the critics, cannot remember who replaced him? Same argument could be made with Anything Goes where the Broadway production had the Tony Award winning Sutton Foster and Stephanie J Block, where we have Megan Mullally. Time will tell |
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Post by alece10 on Nov 23, 2020 19:00:54 GMT
Even Sutton looked knackered after her routine in that clip, despite her actual dancing looking fabulous and effortless. They obviously built a few bars in where she had a chance to recover and catch her breath before the big finishing note. Loved the sailors too, with that funny sailors rolling gait. Very clever choreography. Have you seen the Jonathan Groff version? He has copied the choreography exactly. Its quite funny. |
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Nov 23, 2020 19:14:36 GMT
Yes, I liked it.
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Post by Oleanna on Nov 24, 2020 5:08:06 GMT
In terms of tapping for Reno the league table is definitely the Kathleen Marshall 2011 Broadway choreography (for Sutton Foster), followed by the Stephen Mear choreography at the National (for Sally Ann Triplett) and, in third place, the Michael Smuin choreography for the Lincoln Centre version (initially for Patti LuPone in NY and then Elaine Paige in London). The relatively recent Sheffield version, choreographed by Alistair David and starring Debbie Kurrup, probably falls somewhere between the Broadway and the National in terms of amount of tapping for Reno. I suspect Marshall will very cleverly adapt her choreography so that the ensemble does most of the heavy lifting whilst Megan Mullally is positioned front and centre where necessary. I've seen Mullally in three Broadway shows. In How To Succeed - she came across as exuberant, full of natural presence and a real up-and-coming talent. I found her performances in both Young Frankenstein and It's Only a Play to be fairly lacklustre - she no longer seemed at home on the stage and spirit of Karen Walker was all too obvious (though in fairness neither part or piece was particularly good). However she played Adelaide in a concert of Guys and Dolls at Carnegie Hall in 2014 (just before she did It's Only a Play) and knocked it out of the park - delivering comedy, pathos, great characterisation and fantastic acting through song. Given that there was only a few days of rehearsal just shows what can happen with the right mix of character and actor. All of which makes me pretty hopeful that she'll put her unique stamp on Reno Sweeney - even if it's without mega tapping or a traditional Broadway belt. And let’s not forget that the role was originated by Ethel Merman! She certainly never had to navigate Kathleen Marshall choreography, and nobody seemed to mind... |
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Post by mrbarnaby on Nov 24, 2020 6:55:44 GMT
This choreography is hardly taxing. It’s shuffling round a bit and every now and again randomly sticking your arm in the air for something to do.
Stephen Mears choreography for the NT was much more complicated.
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Post by barrowside on Nov 24, 2020 10:39:50 GMT
Fab news - we're getting this in Dublin after the Barbican (and still with Megan).
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