I took my daughter, Ariel, to see “Hairspray the Musical” on Wednesday. It was her second time seeing it, my first. The funny thing was that she was all grouchy upon learning that the lead actress she’d seen in the role was no longer in the show. Lo and behold, she liked the replacement even more. We hung around after the show and many cast members, including the magnificent Harvey himself, signed autographs for eager patrons. If you’re in New York, enjoy musicals, and have not seen this show yet…get tickets and go.
PAD
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Ditto! Musicals are one of the few original American art forms out there; it’s a piece of our cultural heritage, dammit! And there’s nothing like seeing them in the cradle of most of ’em….
Missed seeing HAIRSPRAY when I was last in NYC…but then again, I was in town to see the Broadway opening of a musical that a friend wrote the book for. But I got to see other shows (THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE) and the whole experience was a total blast….
I thoroughly agree. Nothing beats a good musical. Just saw Man of La Mancha again. I cannot believe that this show is closing. Brian Stokes Mitchell was wonderful. We too stayed after and got autographs, the whole cast was wonderful
I’ll also mention, given your screen name, that I have a stupid fondness for the early Johnny W. “Tarzan” films. Yes, I know they’re not remotely accurate to the books. But they have a certain charm. I have several of them on Laserdisk, including one of “Tarzan and His Mate” that includes a beautifully filmed, utterly tasteful five minute nude underwater swim sequence the censors cut (Tarzan has his loin cloth but Jane is starkers. Stunt swimmer, but still…)
I couldn’t post this reponse in the other thread so I am putting it here. As you have noticed from my screen name I am a BIG Burroughs fan. However, I am not a Burroughs snob. I can enjoy other takes on his characters. There have been several Tarzan incarnations I have enjoyed. I agree with you on Tarzan and his Mate. Possibly the best Tarzan movie of them all. (The first half of Greystoke would get the title if they could have sustained it) I enjoyed the swimming scene and was disappointed they changed Jane’s outfit in the subsequent movies. BTW: A Tarzan/Phantom story would be awesome. As for the upcoming Tarzan series I remain sceptically hopeful. I just hope they finally get around to making “A Princess of Mars” into a movie before I die.
This has nothing to do with this topic, but I had to do it. Glenn Haumann’s question about Apropos reminded me of a good joke. Tell me if you’ve heard this one.
A Jewish man is about to be knighted by the Queen of England. Before he is to be knighted, a palace official tells him that he has to memorize a phrase that he is supposed to speak when he approaches the queen to be knighted. He studies the phrase really, really hard so that he won’t forget it. The day of his knighting comes. He approaches the queen and kneels. He’s about to say the phrase when all of a sudden, his mind goes blank. He can’t remember it. He says the first thing that comes to his mind. “Mah Nish Tanah Helilah Hazeh.”
The queen turns to her advisor and says, “Why is this knight different from all other knights?”
I couldn’t post this reponse in the other thread so I am putting it here. As you have noticed from my screen name I am a BIG Burroughs fan. However, I am not a Burroughs snob. I can enjoy other takes on his characters.
Oh, I wonder what you’ll think of Disney’s upcoming TARZAN musical (which my friend is doing the book for).
If they can do it with Superman (“It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane Broadway musical from the 60’s) then this should work. I did get to see Tarzan Rocks at Disney Animal Kingdom in 99. It was good. The arial vine ballet between Tarzan and Jane was great.
Peter,
Back to the original topic. I’ve encountered revivals/cast changes that were better than the original as well. I’d listened to Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Lovett in Sweeny Todd for years and wasn’t a fan of the musical. Then I heard Patti LuPone and suddenly I had found my favorite musical. I’m curious which original cast members you think are impossible to truly replace, and which changes in cast you thought were improvements.
Warning: Be ready for a flame from me if you suggest that anyone but John Cameron Mitchell could be Hedwig.
Doncha think Robert Preston in THE MUSIC MAN is pretty far up there? And some think Nathan Lane in the PRODUCERS may be in that category as well…
And NO ONE has been able to replace Yul Brynner in “The King and I”
We hung around after the show and many cast members, including the magnificent Harvey himself, signed autographs for eager patrons.
Y’know, I’m hearing a lot of praise for him and a lot of people are saying it’s about time they cast another Pookah in a leading role in a Broadway play.
…But me, well, I still can’t see it…
Some people said that Chow Yun Fat, an actual Asian man, was a pretty good King in the movie version of Anna and the King. Of course, he didn’t have to sing.
Also, commenting on a post from the last thread, Druse, or Druze, are a group of Muslims living primarily in Syria and Lebanon, if I recall correctly. They are distinct from other sects, and are sometimes persecuted, although I believe they held a positon of power in the Syrian government.
Just so you know.
Just thought you might like to know that Kathy Brier, who plays the lead now, is also on One Life to Live. Congrats on a “big girl” having a lead role on a soap opera.
I haven’t seen it yet but the theatre is right behind my office, will def. check it out soon.
Roger wrote:
“Back to the original topic. I’ve encountered revivals/cast changes that were better than the original as well. I’d listened to Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Lovett in Sweeny Todd for years and wasn’t a fan of the musical. Then I heard Patti LuPone and suddenly I had found my favorite musical. I’m curious which original cast members you think are impossible to truly replace, and which changes in cast you thought were improvements.”
Keep in mind — I’m old, so some of these go back a long ways – but, having seen those listed below on B’way, no one else has ever captured the part in any other production (for me).
Zero Mostel in Fiddler On the Roof and also A Funny Thing Happened On the Way To the Forum
Carol Burnett in Once Upon A Mattress
Ethel Merman in Annie Get Your Gun (revival – I’m not THAT old)
Imogene Coca in On The Twentieth Century
Angela Lansbury in Sweeney Todd (there was a a telecast with pretty near all the original cast, except for the role of Joanna, on A&E some 20 years ago – if you can find this on tape – do watch it – just listening to La Lansbury doesn’t do the portrayal justice)
Richard Kiley in Man of La Mancha
Pearl Bailey in Hello, Dolly (revival)
Tom Bosley in Fiorello!
Robert Preston & Bernadette Peters in Mack & Mabel
Nell Carter in Dreamgirls (workshop, pre-opening)
Forget Julie Andrews. Forget Audrey Hepburn. For me, Melissa Errico will always be Liza Doolittle.
ping skring,
You saw Zero Mostel in Fiddler?!!! I caught his performance on a repeat of the Tony Awards where he did “If I was A Rich Man…” and can’t imagine an entire show of something like that. Wow. I’ve seen Fiddler twice now and came away each time comparing it to Zero Mostel. Not fair to some fine actors, but their performances hinted of his art with actually reaching it.
Which, I think, is what I was trying to say earlier. Some performers have defined a role in such a way that ANY actor is going to be compared to the original. Yul Brynner is possibly the best example of this. But Patti LuPone was able to change the role of Mrs. Lovett enough to make it a totally different character. Despite all the other problems it had, Matthew Broderick managed to give us a different version of Harold Hill (Notice I didn’t say better, but he did prove that Robert Preston’s version wasn’t definitive).
Discussing the definitive Broadway performances on a “funny book” blog. Somebody save this and send it to CBLDF. Let’s see another “kids only” genre discuss this subject.
I can’t believe I didn’t think of this one earlier. Tim Curry as Frankenfurter in Rocky Horror. He set the standard in London, and then made a revival impossible to justify with the movie.
Peter, sorry to be off-topic, but since any board regarding One Knight Only is no longer up for posting, I thought I’d point out that my review of the book is now the first reader review listed for it on Amazon.com, at: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0441010571/104-1267966-4983107.
Hope it helps. 🙂
Speaking of “Music Man,” I noticed a tendency among those getting indignant about the Broderick version to treat the movie as the One True Version of the musical. I’ve been listening to the original Broadway cast recording a lot lately, and I find I don’t like some of the songs in the movie as much by comparison. Obviously Preston and the Buffalo Bills are as good or better in the movie, but while they act the roles just fine, I find that Shirley Jones, Ron Howard and Buddy Hackett don’t sing the songs as well as their Broadway predecessors. (Shirley Jones sings just fine, but I think she adds too much coluratura, and Hackett and Howard aren’t really singers.)
I offer this up not to trash the movie (which I still like–it’s the version I grew up with, after all), just to note the basic subjectivity of the topic…
Yeah, J. Robert, saw Zero in “Fiddler” – actually twice. Also caught the Tony presentation that re-aired during August’s PBS fund-raising, and can absolutely tell you that that has about 15% of the vitality and charisma that Z.M. exuded on stage (not trying to be elitist about this, merely giving an opinion). The man was an average actor, but more than made up for it by being one helluva performer.
Did not see it, but heard creditable notices about Lou Diamond Phillips’ rendition of the Brynner role in The King & I.
And an side to the evening saw pearl Bailey in Hello. Dolly — she missed her grand entramnce at the top of the grand staircase for the “helo, Dolly” number – walked down the stairs, told the audience an anecdoite, sand a short number (nbot from the show) then turned to the conductor and said “Let’s take it from thre netrance, dearie” and picked up as if she hadn’t missed a beat. Few actors can pull that off.
Also neglected to mention Anthony Newley in Stop the World, I Want to Get Off and Robert Morse in How To Succeed in Business without Really Trying
Ping Skring again
Is it okay if I hate you? I’m just gonna console myself that at least you didn’t see Sarah Brighton and Michael Crawford in Phantom. If you did, I DON’T wanna know about it.
Your’re two up on me, there, J. Robert.
Never saw any production of Phantom.
And apologies for the typos in previous message — should have learned by now NOT to post when just returned from a rare ‘evening out.’
Not a biggie, but it is SKRINQ – no g in the ol’ cybernym.
ping skuinQ
Sorry ’bout the nick mistake; eyesight’s the first thing to go.
My family and I saw Phantom during a trip to Birminghan and was disapppointed in the production values, but the performance was one of the most amazing I’d ever seen. It was the second or third performance there, but I was still surprised to see all the technical problems. So it’s one of those cases where I wish I had more bragging rights than I actually do.
SKRINQ, SKRINQ, SKRINQ, SKRINQ, SKRINQ, SKRINQ, SKRINQ, … (43 more times on the blackboard)
Sorry about that. I don’t @#$% believe I did that.
No prob.
Trust me, I’ve been called worse!
I’ve never seen “Phantom” on Broadway. I’m sorry, but if he doesn’t have purple tights, twin colts, a dog and a horse, he’s just not the Phantom to me.
PAD