Is There Community Theater In Heaven?

[darquegk]

Posted: 1/5/11 at 10:44pm

So, let's be whimsical for a moment? Let's say there's a community theater in heaven. Everyone who's dead is eligable, it's pretty open, and they have all the time in the world- literally, to do show after show. Anyone can direct, choreograph, perform- as long as they're dead.

So, let's assume that the people up there are at the age of their prime career (though they'd certainly be allowed to vary if there was a role they were just dying for). Who would you assemble, given the chance to produce a show?

Hamlet

Directed by: Orson Welles

Hamlet- Heath Ledger
Claudius- Vincent Price
Ghost- William Shakespeare (he DID originate the part, after all)
Horatio- Marlon Brando as a young man
Laertes- John Belushi (Dan Aykroyd said Belushi truly wanted to be a serious Shakespearean actor, but never had the chance)
Polonius- Glenn Shadix
Ophelia- Natasha Richardson, slightly younger than her prime
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern/Gravediggers- Abbott And Costello

[HummingAlong]

Posted: 1/5/11 at 10:46pm

Ha - a role they were DYING for? Nice...

[Orangesaretuesdays]

Posted: 1/5/11 at 10:48pm

really interesting concept.

[ahhrealmonsters]

Posted: 1/5/11 at 11:03pm

Some of these people are AEA members and therefore cannot participate in community theatre.

I kid.

[Eris0303]

Posted: 1/6/11 at 12:24am

I'd see that cast

[darquegk]

Posted: 3/28/11 at 8:00pm

Someday you will... heh heh heh.

The Producers:

Max Bialystock: Raul Julia (unorthodox, yes, but imagine...)
Leo Bloom: Andy Kaufman
Ulla: Marilyn Monroe
Franz Liebkind: Chris Farley
Roger DeBris: Orson Welles
Carmen Ghia: Klaus Nomi

Jesus Christ Superstar:

Jesus Christ: Michael Jackson
Judas Iscariot: Freddie Mercury
Mary Magdalene: Janis Joplin
Simon: Jim Morrison
Pilate: Tony Jay
Annas: Klaus Nomi
Caiaphas: Marlon Brando
Herod: Paul Lynde

[GlindatheGood22]

Posted: 3/28/11 at 10:09pm

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Directed by Elia Kazan

Martha: Bette Davis
George: fat, aged Brando
Honey: Vivien Leigh
Nick: James Dean

[tazber]

Posted: 3/28/11 at 10:23pm

That JCS cast is amazing.

[darquegk]

Posted: 8/20/17 at 7:47pm

I had to bump this:

FIDDLER ON THE ROOF with Robin Williams and Gilda Radner. Williams wasn't Jewish, but I can't think of a better untried Tevye than him.

[SharksVsJets]

Posted: 8/20/17 at 7:57pm

I'm pretty sure there's dinner theatre in hell.

[chewy5000]

Posted: 8/20/17 at 10:32pm

The notion of having Superstar performed in front of it's subject matter is definitely worth exploring further.

[darquegk]

Posted: 12/27/23 at 2:09pm

Bumping this because I just started thinking of Carrie Fisher as Mrs Lovett… but who’s her Sweeney?

[emlo99]

Posted: 12/27/23 at 3:16pm

darquegk said: "Bumping this because I just started thinking of Carrie Fisher as Mrs Lovett… but who’s her Sweeney?"

 

Philip Seymour Hoffman

 

[darquegk]

Posted: 12/27/23 at 5:32pm

With Davy Jones in his Artful Dodger era as Toby

[baritonewithtenortendencies]

Posted: 12/27/23 at 6:11pm

Some of these people are still alive but they'll be dead real soon or are just too old to play these roles

I wanna see Falsettos directed by Arthur Laurents... 

Okay he isn't going to heaven so I guess he's out of the question 

It's hard to imagine anybody other than Lapine doing a better job, and Arthur Laurents, for how horrible of a person he was, was definitely one of the best directors ever

If you can't get him get Rachel Chavkin, she's really great with the kind of abstract becoming object staging thing that Falsettos has been associated with since its inception 

Then get some Bob Fosse choreography in there 

I think Falsettos with a little more dancing would be very very welcome and it's a show I could really see Bob Fosse doing-- light material but heavy subject matter 

Of course, there's not too much opportunity for the kind of elaborate stuff he likes doing, but I really think this'd be a lot of fun 

Now the cast, this is my favorite part

Jerry Orbach as Marvin 

I just love that idea so much, he's so classy and he's originated so many amazing leading men roles, I bet if he were the right age for the role at any point in time he would've been offered it

And, really, Christian Borle proved that the only way to equal Michael Rupert's incredible, defining performance in the show is to have a style all your own with it

Jerry Orbach would be excellent 

For Trina, I think Ethel Merman could bring something to the role we've never seen, it has been played with the kind of belting she liked doing, and even though her personality seems to clash with the character, I feel like it'd make it very interesting (especially since there's infinite time to redo it)

I bet she wouldn't do it because she hates "four letter words" in theatre, though, so get Bernadette Peters on it, I think she'd be great

Trina is a role built for an ex ingenue, an older but not quite super old woman who feels like she can slip right back into her prime whenever she wants to 

Then Jason, this one might be contraversial 

So I don't think anybody will ever ply the role more brilliantly than Anthony Rosenthal did, I really think he was the absolutely perfect choice for the role

But y'know a Broadway actor who got his start as a child who never got to play this role? 

... Anthony Rapp 

I think Anthony Rapp would be such a good Jason 

Maybe it'd be weird because neither of his parents would have his hair color or skin color, I guess, but you can just die his hair or give him a wig to get around that 

Jonathan Kaplan didn't look much like Michael Rupert and was even taller than some lyrics suggest so I feel like it'd be fine

For Whizzer, I'd immediately, instinctively almost, get Mandy Patinkin 

Just imagine that voice singing The Games I Play or doing the harmonies on This Had Better Come to a Stop 

It'd be really, really great, I think 

I dunno if he'd accept it, but if he would he'd be amazing 

This next one is my weirdest pick of all and also kind of makes the idea more abstract

Harvey Fierstein as Mendel 

But it's Harvey Fierstein with all the technique he's learned in singing (listen to Hairspray Live and him singing La Cage Aux Folles, he is exponentially better sounding than he was in Hairspray) but when he was young 

That role was originated by the scarily incredible Chip Zien and then later played by Brandon Uranowitz, who is pretty much a force of nature 

It's hard to beat either of them, so the thing is that you just can't try to beat them 

Harvey wouldn't be able to hit all the high notes, but man would his personality be incredible in the role

I can really imagine him singing A Day in Falsettoland and it'd be hysterical 

Also if Bernadette were Trina, we'd finally get to see Harvey opposite Bernadette and we'd get that interaction about hoping the dog runs away and that'd be really funny given real life context 

For Cordelia, I say Kristin Chenoweth with no second thoughts

She would be absolutely brilliant in that role and I think it's a crime she hasn't played it, but she's honestly too old now 

And Dr. Charlotte is a role that's a lot harder to cast, but I guess I could see Ana Gasteyer doing it really well, she's barely too old to play the role though 

So yeah that's my Falsettos dream

Also Jason Robert Brown as music director, he's always great with William Finn's material 

Updated On: 12/27/23 at 06:11 PM

[darquegk]

Posted: 12/27/23 at 8:49pm

The recent Pittsburgh run of Falsettos had a Freddie Mercury lookalike (almost eerily similar) cast as Whizzer, and now I can't get THAT casting out of my head.

[BroadwayNYC2]

Posted: 12/27/23 at 8:52pm

"but they'll be dead real soon"

Figure out what part of your brain told you to type this, then lobotomize it. 

[blaxx]

Posted: 12/27/23 at 9:38pm

BroadwayNYC2 said: ""but they'll be dead real soon"

Figure out what part of your brain told you to type this, then lobotomize it."

Exactly, way to ruin an innocent thread with malicious and morbid thoughts.

[Mr. Wormwood]

Posted: 12/27/23 at 9:44pm

BroadwayNYC2 said: ""but they'll be dead real soon"

Figure out what part of your brain told you to type this, then lobotomize it."

Especially when talking about people like Rachel Chavkin, Christian Borle, Anthony Rapp and Kristin Chenoweth...?

Basically they're just dream casting roles and paying no attention to the topic.

[bwaylvsong1]

Posted: 12/27/23 at 9:55pm

A Little Night Music

directed by Michael Bennett

(assume all actors below are age appropriate)

Desiree- Whitney Houston 

Fredrik- Frank Sinatra

Countess- Marin Mazzie

Count- Alfred Drake

Madame- Barbara Cook

Anne- Rebecca Luker

Henrik- David Carroll

Fredrika- Judy Garland

Petra- Laurie Beechman

[Alex Kulak2]

Posted: 12/27/23 at 10:59pm

When I read the prompt, I didn't think about deceased actors and directors, I thought about regular community theatres like we have on Earth, but in heaven.

My answer to that would have been "No, but they are in Hell."

[BeingAlive44Ever]

Posted: 12/27/23 at 11:02pm

Mr. Wormwood said: "BroadwayNYC2 said: ""but they'll be dead real soon"

Figure out what part of your brain told you to type this, then lobotomize it."

Especially when talking about people like Rachel Chavkin, Christian Borle, Anthony Rapp and Kristin Chenoweth...?

Basically they're just dream casting roles and paying no attention to the topic."

I dunno, a majority of the living people mentioned are way too old to do the roles now. Some of them, like Harvey Fierstein, actually will probably be dead within the next decade. Maybe they didn't word it great, but I mean Anthony Rapp hasn't been able to play Jason for forty years and the only setting he would be able to would be if everybody involved were dead and in heaven. I think I kind of understand what the post was supposed to be saying, but yeah it's real weird that they wouldn't just say "the people who aren't dead on here have long since aged out of these roles though"

But also half these people would literally never agree to do Falsettos lol

I could see Kristin doing it maybe early in her career and Anthony Rapp too but like if they were already dead and already done with their whole careers I don't think something like this would ever happen even though it's hypothetical

[BroadwayNYC2]

Posted: 12/27/23 at 11:29pm

A buy one get one lobotomy scheduled for tonight I see. 

[darquegk]

Posted: 12/28/23 at 12:11am

Alex Kulak2 said: "When I read the prompt, I didn't think about deceased actors and directors, I thought about regular community theatres like we have on Earth, but in heaven.

My answer to that would have been "No, but they are in Hell.""

I’m operating under the assumption that Actor’s Equity, unlike the Mormons, does not stake a hold on you after death.

[Mr. Wormwood]

Posted: 12/28/23 at 12:27am

BeingAlive44Ever said: "Mr. Wormwood said: "BroadwayNYC2 said: ""but they'll be dead real soon"

Figure out what part of your brain told you to type this, then lobotomize it."

Especially when talking about people like Rachel Chavkin, Christian Borle, Anthony Rapp and Kristin Chenoweth...?

Basically they're just dream casting roles and paying no attention to the topic."

I dunno, a majority of the living people mentioned are way too old to do the roles now. Some of them, like Harvey Fierstein, actually will probably be dead within the next decade."

Harvey Fierstein is 69 years old. What in the world is going on in this thread...