I am over the moon over this! I'm hoping it will be recorded since it is such an esteemed production. All ready to buy my show ticket and plane ticket from Buffalo!
Marius, so... Philip Quast is not famous in the musical theatre biz?? I think he's probably one of THE most famous musical performer cuz he's in the Les Mis DVD! I don't think Tom Hewitt will be anymore famous/stunt casting than Philip Quast to be honest!
All That Jazz
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Marius, so... Philip Quast is not famous in the musical theatre biz?? I think he's probably one of THE most famous musical performer cuz he's in the Les Mis DVD! I don't think Tom Hewitt will be anymore famous/stunt casting than Philip Quast to be honest!
I know Philip Quast is very well-known among Les Mis fans and regular London theatregoers, but he's not a big box office name even here in the UK, let alone in the US. If there was any justice, he would be - I wasn't trying to knock him at all, he's one of my favourite actors! But the reality is they couldn't sell the show on his name.
Hmm, the pictures that Google brought up make the theatre look quite big (or wide, at least) - but it's difficult to tell from photos. It doesn't look very "intimate", though.
As I've said before, the wrong theatre would kill this production. The intimacy of the Playhouse in London is part of what makes it work: http://tinyurl.com/nmwypg
I think the Longacre is perfect for this production. It has a decent seating capacity but doesn't feel hufe. The orchestra is relatively shallow (or at least always feels that way) and even the balcony doesn't seem ridiculously high like in some theaters (the Lyceum, for example).
I just hope we get a recording of this revival. The Original is great and all, but the sound quality is terrible (at least on my copy) and it'd be great to have new voices/orchestrations.
Do you think they'll redesign the set to mimic the inside of the Longarce now? That player's theater looks so tiny. Are they bringing over the chairs and tables too?
That photo posted earlier is deceptive. The Playhouse in London is a normal sized theatre. It's a two balcony house with about 800 seats. The Longacre is a two balcony house with 1,000 seats.
Strangely enough, both the Playhouse and Longacre have the same amount of rows on the stalls/orchestra level - 17. Apart from the Longacre's larger seating capacity, the configuration of the two theatres is almost exactly the same. So, Broadway audiences should be able to have as intimate an experience with this production as West End audiences have enjoyed.
Here is another shot of the Playhouse with the La Cage pre-show set.
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Meanwhile, I found this really cool historical photo of the Longacre, including all of the detail work that was just restored - the terra cotta figures on the boxes and mezz and balcony overhangs had been masked for decades.
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The Longacre is quite a good choice and confirmed my idea that the producers were going for a 1000 seater. I wonder if the set will get a slight redesign as the London production incorperate some of the theatre look to the set design although they would be fine just keeping it the same.
Explaining that further - the boxes on stage in the picture that Mama posted are designed to look like the actual boxes of the Playhouse. (That's where the orchestra is located for the production, on both sides of the stage). The stage floor is built out into the house and the first row of seating has been removed and tables and chairs have been installed.
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The Longacre looks great in that picture and I'm sure La Cage will be fine, after all Boeing Boeing played there and its London theatre is of similar capicity to the Playhouse.
I do like The Walter Kerr and it's the perfect venue for A Little Night Music when it opens, is it the first time that two transfers from the same company have arrived on Broadway within a few months of each other?