Eliza? - My Fair Lady Revival 2018

[GeorgeandDot]

So did Betsy Wolfe. Also saw Michael Arden like a tweet trashing Bartlett Sher. Love some good Broadway drama.

[Musical Master]

I can see Michael Arden vs Bartlett Sher becoming a thing this season. Oh the Broadway drama. 

[poisonivy2]

Hmm Bart Sher was not very transparent about the casting process for Eliza. He has been planning this for Lauren Ambrose for a long time. However he didn't say this to the many Elizas who auditioned and they got their hopes up. I think had he been more honest that Ambrose was going to be The One from the start there wouldn't have been so many hurt feelings. 

[Sondheimite]

Honestly that makes Arden, Laura, and Betsy look like huge a$$holes and nothing else.

 

 

[GeorgeandDot]

Not really, they're all sweet people, but what Poison said is true. Bart knew well ahead of time that he was casting Ambrose, but put a ton of great musical theatre actresses through rigorous auditions, only to give the role to Ambrose. A lot of actresses feel that he lead them on and wasted their time.

Anyways, Ambrose is going to be great and Bart is the best musical theatre director working right now. This is sure to be exceptional.

[NYadgal]

Sounds like sour grapes on the part of the people who didn't get the job.

[Lindsay is a goddess]

NYadgal said: "Sounds like sour grapes on the part of the people who didn't get the job."

I mean I can understand them feeling like their time and energy was wasted but I also understand Sher wanting to see other auditions, just to make sure there wasn't someone he liked even better than Ambrose.

[Sondheimite]

NYadgal said: "Sounds like sour grapes on the part of the people who didn't get the job."

I agree.  That's just the business, I would hope that people at their stature would be more professional and understand that,  

[NYadgal]

Auditions aren't wasted energy - it's part of the business. I applaud Mr. Scher for making sure he found the perfect cast for his vision of this show.

[NYadgal]

Agree with those sharing opinions that negativity isn't professional. They should all know better.  

[GeorgeandDot]

F professionalism. I want some steaming hot drama.

In all seriousness this stuff went down like 4 months ago and wasn't serious at all. Nobody really has beef with Sher. This is going to be a stunning production. I just know it and I know Sher made all the right decisions. If Lupone can patch things up with ALW, then I'm sure Benanti can patch things up with Sher, because there's no denying that she would kill it in this part and would be a great replacement.

So excited to see Ambrose! Her interview with NYT made me really interested to see her Eliza.

[Musical Master]

Darn, was hoping for the next LuPone vs Webber. 

But in all seriousness I am glad that Bartlett Sher cast Lauren Ambrose as Eliza, it makes for an interesting version of her due to her soulful singing voice and she is a very solid actress. Maybe Laura Benanti will be a Eliza replacement in the future.

[OlBlueEyes]

Just about a year ago Kelli O'Hara, in an interview, when asked bluntly if she would like to play Eliza, replied that she  would love to play the role. She loved the role, the show and the score, but she thought that "that ship had sailed," referring to her age. She started to make a passing reference to Mary Martin and the roles that she had gotten in her 40s, but let that drop. And Bartlett Sher gives the role to someone only a year younger.

Since she and Bart Sher are such great friends and colleagues, certainly the subject was broached. Or maybe not, if O'Hara already knew whom Sher had in mind and thought it tactless to bring up the subject.

Having seen Kelli in the New York Philharmonic Carousel four or five years ago, I don't think that she can be well cast as Julie or Eliza. Not because of her age in itself, but because the gaze of her eyes and the tone of her voice just have too much intelligence and authority behind them to belong to an uneducated and vulnerable young woman.

Or is a good actress able to adapt to such a role?

[MCfan2]

Whatever did we do for drama before people had the ability to like tweets? 

[henrikegerman]

OlBlueEyes said: "Just about a year ago Kelli O'Hara, in an interview, when asked bluntly if she would like to play Eliza,replied that she would love to play the role.She loved the role, the show and the score, but she thought that "that ship had sailed," referring to her age. She started to make a passing reference to Mary Martin and the roles that she had gotten in her 40s, but let that drop. And Bartlett Sher gives the role to someone only a year younger.

Since she and Bart Sher are such great friends and colleagues, certainly the subject was broached. Or maybe not, if O'Hara already knew whom Sher had in mind and thought it tactless to bring up the subject.

Having seen Kelli in the New York Philharmonic Carouselfour or five years ago, I don't think that she can be well cast as Julie or Eliza. Not because of her age in itself, but because the gaze of her eyes and the tone of her voice just have too much intelligence and authority behind them to belong to an uneducated and vulnerable young woman.

Or is a good actress able to adapt to such a role?"

Not all good actresses might be right for uneducated, vulnerable or less intellectually developed characters. 
However, it might well be noted that Kelli O'Hara, an exceptional actress, first came to prominence playing the mentally disabled Clara Johnson in LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA.

 

[Call_me_jorge]

Cameron Adams posted a photo of the sitzprobe and without even hearing an ounce of the orchestra/score I know it’s gonna sound gorgeous.

[broadwayboy223]

LOL well while i am excited for this show, and I'm hoping Ambrose will be wonderful, I have to admit im concerned when people say they are excited about her 'soulfull voice". This is NOT a jazz score. I know she had (as the NYT put it) a "stint" at Tanglewood, but I will lose my mind if keys are changed. I totally believe in her acting abilities though.

[Call_me_jorge]

Also, while I’m thinking of it. I hope Live From Lincoln center learns from its King and I mistake and films this almost immediately. TK&I not getting filmed for pbs was a travesty.

[Loopin’theloop]

OlBlueEyes said: "Just about a year ago Kelli O'Hara, in an interview, when asked bluntly if she would like to play Eliza,replied that she would love to play the role.She loved the role, the show and the score, but she thought that "that ship had sailed," referring to her age. She started to make a passing reference to Mary Martin and the roles that she had gotten in her 40s, but let that drop. And Bartlett Sher gives the role to someone only a year younger.
 

Its not about actual age, it’s about playing age. If Kelly O’ Hara feels she is too old, fine but thats more to do with how she looks/sounds/roles she has been playing of late - it’s about brand. For example Kerry Butler has very much branded herself as the youthful ingenue and stuck with it, she was playing teens in her forties but that’s to do with her look and the public perception. If she suddenly played Desiree in a high profile production, it rotor and hard to get people to accept her in a more youthful role going forward and by people, I mean directors/casting directors as well as the audience.

But there is nothing to say that O’ Hara could not play the role, if someone decided they wanted her to. But the fact that Ambrose is almost the same age isn’t relevant. 

[Jeffrey Karasarides]

broadwayboy223 said: "LOL well while i am excited for this show, and I'm hoping Ambrose will be wonderful, I have to admit I'm concerned when people say they are excited about her 'soulfull voice". This is NOT a jazz score. I know she had (as the NYT put it) a "stint" at Tanglewood, but I will lose my mind if keys are changed. I totally believe in her acting abilities though."

I have read that Ambrose is a trained opera singer.

[broadwayboy223]

Jeffrey Karasarides said: "broadwayboy223 said: "LOL well while i am excited for this show, and I'm hoping Ambrose will be wonderful, I have to admit I'm concerned when people say they are excited about her 'soulfull voice". This is NOT a jazz score. I know she had (as the NYT put it) a "stint" at Tanglewood, but I will lose my mind if keys are changed. I totally believe in her acting abilities though."

I have read that Ambrose is a trained opera singer."

As I said she studied for a brief time at the Boston Tanglewood Conservatory for voice. That hardly makes her a qualified “opera singer”. I’m guessing (also hoping) she has a nice enough legit voice. As for the drama of the casting... I think it was pretty unfair to the hundreds of actresses that auditioned for Eliza if Sher was planning on casting Ambrose from the beginning. It’s kind of like how they had open auditions for Grizebella in Cats and then gave it to Leona Lewis. 

[Sondheimite]

If you think that the audition process is **unfair** then I urge you not to go into this business.

[ScottyDoesn'tKnow2]

Don't almost all casting directors for big projects like these have somebody in mind even if they have auditions? I think you can't take anything for granted because somebody may have had the opportunity to nail it to the point where Sher would question wanting Ambrose that badly. I mean the fact that there was an audition process shows Sher was open to changing his mind even if the standard was really high and he really wanted Ambrose. That's just casting in general. It really IS that hard to get a role some times. 

[ColorTheHours048]

There is absolutely nothing shady about a director auditioning several actresses (even award-winning ones) for a role and then deciding to cast the actress he had in mind for it all along. Maybe Lauren Ambrose was unavailable when he first started searching for his Eliza? Maybe she had made a comment to him that she wasn’t willing to do Broadway on this scale with two children and not living in the city? There are many reasons he auditioned other actresses. And they all have a right to be privately upset about it. But, at the end of the day, Bartlett Sher made the decision he felt was best for his production and I have 100% faith in him. If he says Lauren Ambrose brought something to Eliza that he didn’t see any other actress bring, I believe that to be true. It’s not like she’s some A-lister he cast just to sell tickets.

[ScottyDoesn'tKnow2]

And I am sure Lauren Ambrose had her own audition as well just so Sher would be sure she was up to it.