Profile for tmdonahue

Me, too.  I especially liked ending it with Rannells' novelty lyrics to "I Believe."

I agree with VotePeron, Song of Spider-Man is a very interesting book.  

Here's my two cents: The producers were not experienced Broadway producers and this often is a death-knell.  One of the lead producers, Michael Cohl had been very successful with rock arena shows, but that doesn't translate.  A similar problem arose years earlier with Via Galactica in 1972, the supposed follow-up to Hair and the first show at the Uris The

The original Follies in 1971-1972. I was an undergraduate at Michigan at that time and didn't have the money to go to NYC, but that's the one that got away to me.

To Owen22:  Yes!  I also love the idea of the three songs written to be, eventually, sung together.  "Now," "Soon" and "Later."  "...It's intolerable being tolerated."  On and on.  What a wit.

Sondheim of course.  "Uptown/Downtown" in Follies was replaced with "Story of Lucy and Jessie."  The replaced song is on the same idea as the new song of two conflicting sets of desires in the same person.  Wonderful rhymes.  My favorite quatrain is

"She sits at the Ritz with her splits of Mumms
"And starts to pine for a stein with her Village chums
"But with the Schlitz in her mitts down in Fi

My memory tells me it was Applause.  Looking it up on IBDB, Applause opened in 1970, the year I graduated from high school.  There must have been earlier OBC records.

The LCT revival of My Fair Lady when during "The Rain in Spain" Eliza, performed by Lauren Ambrose, realizes she's in love with Higgins.  That realization motivates her next song, "I Could Have Danced All Night." 

Looking around on Google, maybe $5 to $10.  If signed, more, maybe much more.

from Mame "If he walked into my life today."  

from On a Clear Day You Can See Forever  "What Did I Have that I Don't Have?"

This one may be too triumphal in it's musical setting, but from Ragtime "You Can Never Go Back To Before"

OK, I'll write it:

Hated Wicked.   And I hated The Prom.

I feel better now for having gotten this off my chest.

I thought I saw the Bye, Bye, Birdie revival in its Chicago tryout run.  But that was actually an earlier tour and with a different cast.  In that tour, I thought Tommy Tune and Anne Reinking would be enough to brighten the whole show.  No.  Boring.  Didn't see the revival on Broadway later, with a quite different cast.

Promises, Promises has a challenging book.  For example, after the female lead attempts suicide late

Well, I agree the story is weak and some of the songs really good.  It ran 474 performances.  Lack luster by today's standards but not bad.   It's two one-acts, which rarely works to make an evening.  (Song and Dance, or A Day in Hollywood/A Night in Ukraine anyone?  There are always exceptions.  But maybe unwarranted.  Song  ran 474 performance opening in 1985 and Hollywood/Ukraine ra

I think one needs care in identifying charm songs.  I googled the definition of a charm song and a site offered as an example "Wouldn't it be Loverly" from My Fair Lady.  That song is certainly charming but it's an "I want" song, a functional song.  After all the lyrics begin "All I want is a room somewhere..." It even references chocolates which will come up later in the show.  Eliza gets everything she wants except

If you're looking for shows to do locally, in a n-f-p theater, a number of shows have versions for high school and even younger students.  The music is simplified and I believe they come with piano accompaniment score.

Barry and Fran Weissler are strong marketing producers.  Their revivals of Grease and still running Chicago have been brilliantly promoted.  Not that Chicago wasn't great  in the theater to start with.  One thing they've been brilliant at is replacement casting and for these two shows, a kind of stunt casting: movie and TV personalities in a limited-run, small role.

As to the Tyne Daly Gypsy, IMHO her&#

Thanks, Hoganshero, I totally agree with everything.

I'd like to add two things to this discussion.

One is that many/most Broadway theaters are landmarks so they can't easily become...condos, parking lots, etc.  Many have already sold their air rights to other developers so they can't easily go up, anyway.

Two is that almost all the theaters are owned by privately owned corporations: Shubert Organization which owns the most theaters by far, Nederlander, Jujamcyn, or by not-for-profit theaters.  T

Or a chorus line of singing and dancing cows.

Well, I started with Gilbert and Sullivan but that's not BWAY.  My first trip to New York, I told my boyfriend that I wanted to see "A Chorus Line" which had recently opened, but I was sure I couldn't get tickets.  He said, mail a SASE to the box office with a check and see what happens. (Decoding for the younguns: SASE was a self-addressed, stamped envelope. A check was...oh, they still exist!) This was LONG ago and I got a standing room ticket by return mail

...sometimes respond differently to a show.  "Buddy" was a great success in London; big flop in NYC.  "Blood Brothers" ran and ran in London, 21 years, but only two years in NYC.  The Queen musical "We Will Rock You" had a healthy West End run and no producer has chanced it on Broadway.  It would be costly to make investment decisions solely because London audiences have enthusiastically applauded "Jamie." New York auds will or will