Butters, go buy World of Warcraft, install it on your computer, and join the online sensation before we all murder you.
--Cartman: South Park
ATTENTION FANS: I will be played by James Barbour in the upcoming musical, "BroadwayWorld: The Musical."
Such a loss. She'd been unwell since her stroke in 2008.
Harvey Fierstein said on Twitter that he'll treasure their time on Hairspray. Can anyone expand on when she was in Hairspray/what production. It's not Google-able.
BJ Crosby, a powerhouse of a talent & wonderful friend is gone. I treasure our time on HAIRSPRAY: https://t.co/hN63nCeJ4f via @YouTube
This is so sad- my high school staged Smokey Joe's the year I graduated, and we were obsessed with her rendition of Fools Fall in Love. She was a mega-talent, and it's a shame she's gone so soon.
I am a firm believer in serendipity- all the random pieces coming together in one wonderful moment, when suddenly you see what their purpose was all along.
She was amazing. She sang "Fools Fall In Love" in the first act, and was extraordinary. And then, in the second act, topped it with an alternate version of the same song. I always suspected that when they were putting the show together they had her try two different ways, and didn't want to sacrifice either of her incredible interpretations. A great loss ...
2016 These Paper Bullets (1/02) Our Mother's Brief Affair (1/06), Dragon Boat Racing (1/08), Howard - reading (1/28), Shear Madness (2/10), Fun Home (2/17), Women Without Men (2/18), Trip Of Love (2/21), The First Gentleman -reading (2/22), Southern Comfort (2/23), The Robber Bridegroom (2/24), She Loves Me (3/11), Shuffle Along (4/12), Shear Madness (4/14), Dear Evan Hansen (4/16), American Psycho (4/23), Tuck Everlasting (5/10), Indian Summer (5/15), Peer Gynt (5/18), Broadway's Rising Stars (7/11), Trip of Love (7/27), CATS (7/31), The Layover (8/17), An Act Of God (8/31), The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (8/24), Heisenberg (10/12), Fiddler On The Roof (11/02), Othello (11/23), Dear Evan Hansen (11/26), Les Liaisons Dangereuses (12/21) 2017 In Transit (2/01), Groundhog Day (4/04), Ring Twice For Miranda (4/07), Church And State (4/10), The Lucky One (4/19), Ernest Shackleton Loves Me (5/16), Building The Wall (5/19), Indecent (6/01), Six Degrees of Separation (6/09), Marvin's Room (6/28), A Doll's House Pt 2 (7/25) Curvy Widow (8/01)
I love her rendition of "Saved" from Smokey Joe's Cafe as well. They used that song to close out the first act and it's one of my favorite parts on the DVD. I'll usually put it on when I'm feeling down and the music and the performances always cheer me up. BJ is a big part of that. She was so great in that show.
her family is raising money for her funeral costs. The page says she died yesterday afternoon from complications of diabetes and the stroke she had a few years ago http://www.gofundme.com/q4af6s
I did. I remember her as reading too old in the role. I saw it in 1998 when it played the Kennedy Center and there was a lot of drama going on. She had taken over for Roz White who had been abruptly fired. It seemed like she hadn't had a great deal of rehearsal. Tony Stevens was the director of that production (which only used some of Michael Bennett's original staging) and had since left the show to do another production of Dreamgirls in Germany when BJ was rushed in. The producers then quickly brought in Robert Clayter (a cast member of the original production) to serve as director and was asked by the producers to return the show to Michael Bennett's original staging. I saw 2 performances and they were some changes made in the staging from one performance to the next. One change I remember at one performance was when she sang "I'm Telling You...". In the latter verses of the song Crosby passionately shoved all of the props off of the makeup table used in the scene and they fell all over the stage. Looked kind of silly when The Dreams came out to close the number and they had to navigate around scattered makeup brushes and tissue boxes. The production was advertised as being "prior to Broadway" but the whole production was lackluster and eventually went nowhere.
I did, as well; it was when Crosby first joined the tour as "Effie," so I'd venture to guess she was still navigating her way around the role. She came across as stiff & too old but, she sang the score effortlessly. What a powerhouse vocalist.
As mentioned, the tour was supposedly headed to Broadway…but I wasn't surprised when those plans were scrapped. The production design and overall energy were lackluster.
However, there were two incredibly fabulous standout performances provided by Kevin-Anthony as "Jimmy" and Tonya Dixon as "Lorrell."
I actually saw Roz White as Effie in the tour when she was in Hershey, PA. It was horrific. I thought I was going to cry. For the first time ever I actually was glad to see Effie be kicked out of the Dreams. The VERY NEXT DAY... she was fired and they brought in BJ. I was so angry having seen her in SJC and Chicago. I heard that after she got her footing she was amazing.
"Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love actually is all around."
JRybka--I also saw the tour at Hershey Theatre, and thought I remembered seeing Crosby. After reading your post, I dug out my Playbill from the show, and it still has the full-page insert with B.J. Crosby's bio and headshot. So, I must've seen one of her first performances, if not the very first. I never knew that!