November 11-19, Behind the Scenes at Wonderful Town
By: Raymond McLeod Jan. 20, 2004
Running through the show with Linda in charge. She looks great, sounds great and is nervous as hell and who wouldn't be? She's had exactly 5 days to work on the role vs. 5 weeks for Donna. She's an absolute pro.
We're all starting to wonder what's going on with Donna. We've received no word from producers, stage management or anyone else! So naturally we've spent our time in creative re-casting of the show. Let's see...in the role of Ruth Sherwood...Dolly Parton!
Liza Minelli! or seriously...Reba McIntire (sp)! She'd be great! Of course, when we discuss those people we analyze them the same way that casting people do...too tall, too young, too old...the same thing we complain about the casting folks doing! What's up with that?!
In the meantime, Linda's doing a hell of a job!
They lopped out a verse of "Football" today- no loss, and snippets are being excised from much of Act I...nothing horrible. As a matter of fact it all works better. Act I is so long and Act II is so short! Just let it flow1 This show is about pace. That's it's charm. Once it starts to go-it flies to the end. The nipping and tucking is fine but we need to get a running start at it.
Tuesday Evening...
I can't even begin to tell you how great Linda did tonight! There was not one miscue or dropped line. And she sang the ca-ca out of everything! She was great! Even WE applauded her at the end. She's a totally different Ruth from Donna's portrayal and guess what-the show still works! The book is well written and has such a great flow that it doesn't really matter who plays the lead role as long as you have a strong and competent actress in the lead who understands the character. And Linda does.
Which brought up an interesting question...why did we have to wait for Donna? And the answer is...because every Bdwy show in this day and age lives off the advance at the box office. They need a star name attached to the vehicle...and here we are with our star, Donna Murphy attached to our product...and the star is out. And the information is not flowing from any direction. The Weisslers are worried because our advance is not large. But then we need to take a serious look at what our competition is this year. We can eliminate that long running shows because they're not going anywhere...Phantom. Millie, 42nd St. Our competition is Taboo (which I don't think is going to make it), The Boy From Oz (which rests wholly on the shoulders of Hugh Jackman), Wicked (which looks to be a good product), Conferderate Widow (don't know), Never Gonna Dance (don't know), Retreat From Moscow (which sounds OK) and others I'm sure. But based on what's on the boards, this show is in good stead.
Barry Weissler says he believes this show has longer legs than Chicago, which has been running for 6 years. Could that be true?
Wednesday Nov 12, 2003
Donna out again. It's getting everyone nervous.
Linda gets a second shot and I'm sure she'll be a lot less nervous this time around. Another cut in football...this time a chunk of choreography, so it's good to know that Kathleen has no qualms about cutting her own stuff. It makes me feel like she wants the show to be good no matter what goes away.
I neglected to mention in passing how many people feel that Kathleen doesn't like them. It appears to me that some cast members believe that if she doesn't appreciate their work daily than she doesn't care for them personally. Here's what I think. I don't think that Kathleen is of the personality that allows her to be effusive openly. She's focused on the end product to thr point that that individual notice is something she just doesn't think about. She's allowed us an amazing degree of latitude in the creation of our roles...if she doesn't like it, she very diplomatically says so...and sticks to her guns. But we as actors get very caught up in not being able to differentiate the dividing line between the characters we play and the person we are. I'm certainly no exception. We all believe we're good enough to be working all the time but when each job ends and we don't find a new one right away we begin to question our abilities and worth. Unfortunately, the business we're in supports and accentuates that belief. We hear an awful lot of 'no' before we hear 'yes'. And the process occurs WAY too often. That's why I tell my students that this business is more about perseverance than talent.
We did receive a lovely note from Donna telling us how much she missed us and couldn't wait to be back on stage with us. It was a very classy and genuine message, and we did appreciate it.
Friday, Nov 14, 2003
She's back! Great show tonight! Great audience!
One downer though...the producers have asked us again not to discuss the situation...however we read in the NY Times that Donna would only be doing two performances this weekend. We understand HER problem but someone should have the decency to inform US of the status of our show before notifying the press, donchathink? It's seems to be so simple...communicate with the people who work for you!
Tues.-Wed., Nov. 18-19. 2003
Down to the line! Nipping and tucking right and left....nothing major. What we need to do is run the darn thing in it's final form. We'll probably be in great shape by Christmas! LOL! Gotta run it! The flow comes with repetition.
Next week ...
OPENING NIGHT!
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