Patti LuPone The Rink

[binau]

Posted: 6/16/18 at 5:57pm

For years I have been perplexed how anyone could beat Bernadette Peters in Sunday for the Tony. However, I’ve just seen Caroline O’Connor in THE RINK (London) and now I get it. The role is one of the meatiest I have ever seen - incredible songs, dramatic moments, humour, dancing, energy, sex appeal. It’s a force of nature.

I have always dismissed the show - I found it hard to understand the depth from the cast recording. But it’s the most contemporary feeling of all the Kander & Ebb shows I’m familiar with (which is most of them, including The Scottsboro Boys and The Visit). Set in a crumbling theatre (I mean roller rink :p*) that will be turned into a parking lot, the musical explores the troubled past and fractured relationships of and between the two leads. It seamlessly weaves in and out of multiple time periods. The kind of meaty complicated non-linear structure that any director would love to work with.

I am shocked the show was so poorly received - and we need a Broadway revival right now! Patti LuPone is the most obvious choice for the lead role. She has the name, vocal chops and dramatic acting ability to pull it off. I worry she might not quite have the energy and sex appeal for the role. And they would have to reduce some of the dancing. But if LuPone can pull it off it will be among the most meatiest performances of her career and easily secure her a 3rd Tony.

It would be novel to see Benanti alongside LuPone as daughter again - but I actually worry that Benanti is not right for the role. Speaking of which, neither was Liza. It seems like very bizarre casting - Liza playing what is meant to be a slightly plain hippie in her late 20s, with scenes pretending to be as young as 5? I don’t see it.

One change that has to remain - Coloured Lights closes act one instead of opens the show. It makes more sense here to me because we actually know something about her character by this stage and there is subtext to the lyrics. In my mind the only reason it probably opened the show is to give the audience what they wanted - Liza Minnelli.

[Dolly80]

Posted: 6/16/18 at 6:03pm

Haha Patti Lupone is TOO old!

Made me laugh though.

Maybe she could play Minnie Fay in Hello Dolly after?

[ScottyDoesn'tKnow2]

Posted: 6/16/18 at 6:10pm

Chita Rivera was about fifty years old when she did The Rink. That should probably guide us in making our casting decisions. Just from bits and pieces of The Rink I've seen on YouTube, it looks like Chita did quite a bit of dancing as well. I guess how could they not choreograph some numbers when they had Chita Rivera in the role. As for Liza's casting, I hear she tore up the role with emotion, but I can see her not being quite right for the role either. They also didn't really look alike in face or body nor did they sing or move alike (as far as I could tell from the limited clips) so the mother/daughter relationship seemed to ask us to use our imaginations a bit. I heard Stockard Channing was more believable as the daughter. But Kander/Ebb loved Liza, Liza was a star, and I think Chita and Liza had been itching to do a show together as they loved working together in Chicago.

They did seem to have chemistry:

First Promo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbiMmmdOckk

A more fun commercial:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cDqzdHUzns

And

Performance of "Wallflower" and the title song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0e_P3ow1wI

Updated On: 6/16/18 at 06:10 PM

[latitudex1]

Posted: 6/16/18 at 7:15pm

ScottyDoesn'tKnow2 said: "Chita Rivera was about fifty years old when she didThe Rink. That should probably guide us in making our casting decisions. Just from bits and pieces of The Rink I've seen on YouTube, it looks like Chita did quite a bit of dancing as well. I guess howcould they not choreograph some numbers when they had Chita Rivera in the role. 

I wonder if Vanessa Williams would do it. 

[Sally Durant Plummer]

Posted: 6/16/18 at 8:55pm

Mary Testa played the role for a while since Liza was having her “problems” during the run. I wish I could hear her sing that score!

I am fond of the soundboard recording - the scenes play well, and the music is, of course, glorious. I’ve never liked the revised script as much - it tried to stay contemporary and ruined “All the Children In a Row”. There’s a great chapter in the inception of the show in the Yale Masters Kander and Ebb book. Apparently, the show added an intermission in previews which is why Liza reprised “Colored Lights” as the end of act one. Like Follies, it seems like a show that doesn’t benefit from an intermission, regardless of length.

Patti is perfect and would kill the role. I dream of an Encores! run that might transfer, a la Gypsy.

[GeorgeandDot]

Posted: 6/16/18 at 9:47pm

I don't remember much from the original production, frankly, but I did enjoying it quite a lot. It was criticized rather harshly by some people. I thought Chita was incredible and Liza was wonderful too although she certainly had many "problems" during the run. I would've loved to have seen Mary Testa. It's a really good show with a really great score. We're certainly waaay overdue for a revival. I'm not sure how it would do in a Broadway house, but I think it would do wonderfully in an intimate Broadway house. I could totally see John Doyle doing it at Classic Stage.

I'm not sure about Patti playing the part now. 10 to 15 years ago she would've been perfect. She might be a bit too old now. I'd like to see a Donna Murphy/Katrina Lenk pairing for this show maybe.

[Jessetenny]

Posted: 6/16/18 at 9:58pm

Even though she likes doing original works, I think that Idina Menzel would be an inspired choice. Or Megan Hilty in 15 years.

[ScottyDoesn'tKnow2]

Posted: 6/16/18 at 11:09pm

Jessetenny said: "Even though she likes doing original works, I think that Idina Menzel would be an inspired choice."

Oooh, in that case, we finally get to see Lea Michele back on Broadway playing Idina Menzel's "daughter" again. :p

 

[South Fl Marc]

Posted: 6/16/18 at 11:33pm

ScottyDoesn'tKnow2 said: "Jessetenny said: "Even though she likes doing original works, I think that Idina Menzel would be an inspired choice."

Oooh, in that case, we finally get to see Lea Michele back on Broadway playing Idina Menzel's "daughter" again. :p

"

 

Perfect, They  both have whiny, nasal, undistinguishable voices. And let’s not forget that neither one is funny.

 

Updated On: 6/16/18 at 11:33 PM

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 6/17/18 at 12:02am

Imagining Idina in this makes me shudder with terror.

I’m not even going to acknowledge the Lea Michele idea.

Chita was perfect, LuPone would be fantastic.

[ScottyDoesn'tKnow2]

Posted: 6/17/18 at 12:16am

I hope people understood my post was just a joke, hence the :p.

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 6/17/18 at 12:20am

ScottyDoesn'tKnow2 said: "I hope people understood my post was just a joke, hence the :p."

You mustn’t joke about such horrors.

[gypsy101]

Posted: 6/17/18 at 2:07am

I would kill to hear Patti sing these songs. I'm not sure who should play Angel though. Maybe someone like Lena Hall? Though maybe she'd seem too young compared to Patti as Anna.

[binau]

Posted: 6/17/18 at 6:14am

Yes! Someone like Lena Hall is probably a better fit than Benanti. 

----

From wikipedia:

The show's composer, John Kander, commented that the show "was the most complete realization" of his intentions of any production he had done. Lyricist Fred Ebb agreed, asserting that "Every single element of it was exactly as we imagined. Up there on the stage were two of my best friends, Liza and Chita. It was an overwhelming experience; and when they weren't treated well, it was as if we had gotten attacked on the street.... That show hurt me more than any show I've written.... I felt that I had let them down."

Updated On: 6/17/18 at 06:14 AM

[Mark_E]

Posted: 6/17/18 at 6:24am

I also saw this production in London and thought Caroline O’Connor was incredible - I love Patti but I don't think she'd struggle to bring some of the subtleties which Caroline brought to the role. There is talk of this getting a transfer into one of the smaller West End Theatres (the rest of the Southwark run is sold out).

Maybe this would transfer somewhere Off-Broadway with Caroline.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 6/17/18 at 9:25am

gypsy101 said: "I would kill to hear Patti sing these songs. I'm not sure who should play Angel though. Maybe someone like Lena Hall? Though maybe she'd seem too young compared to Patti as Anna."

Lena Hall is pushing 40 and is 10 years older than LuPone's actual son. There's no reason she couldn't conceivably play her daughter.

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 6/17/18 at 9:54am

Lena or Leslie Kritzer.

[rjm516]

Posted: 6/17/18 at 2:40pm

I also saw The Rink at the Southwark Playhouse last week and I can't believe anyone would consider casting anyone as Anna except for Caroline O'Connor. She seemed BORN to play this role. It was a true tour de force performance, flawless. The production deserves a West End transfer for sure (the West End needs that kind of quality too; Southwark's is always the best stuff in town) and if it goes to Broadway anytime soon, Caroline would be a revelation. 

[binau]

Posted: 6/17/18 at 2:53pm

The main reason I’m looking for alternatives is that in New York I can’t imagine the show succeeding or getting mounted without a name - especially given its shakey past. I personally would not bet on it to succeed financially in New York without a name.

I’m glad you enjoyed the show too though. It really seems quite special. And given how truly rare it does seem to be performed, I feel incredibly lucky someone has dusted off this gem and presented it to us.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 6/17/18 at 3:54pm

I saw the original production and wasn't impressed by Chita's performance. This was mostly because I grew up surrounded by Italian women and Chita's performance wasn't capturing them. Don't get me wrong, she filled the theater with her stage presence but she walked like a Broadway dancer instead of leading with her hips the way my Aunt Fulvia did and she didn't use her arms the way my cousin Zita did. Lu Pone might actually be good in the role.

BTW: I had the same qualms about Olympia Dukakis in MOONSTRUCK.

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 6/17/18 at 3:58pm

I've posted this before, but in 1984 I was knocked sideways by how great THE RINK was. First saw it in previews, was sure it was going to be a smash hit. Shocked by the poor reviews and poorer business, went back 3 more times to relive one of the greatest theater going events of my life at that point. It was stunning to see such a small musical hold its own on Broadway back then (I think the whole thing had a total of 8 or 9 performers) packing such a wallop. That finale when the false perspective wonder of a roller rink that Peter Larkin designed levitated into the flies to the strains of "Colored Lights" was one of the greatest coups de theatre I've ever seen. 

And no, LuPone is not the performer to bring Anna to life-- that lady needs to be a firecracker of sexual needs to make the show work. 

Updated On: 6/17/18 at 03:58 PM

[Gizmo6]

Posted: 6/17/18 at 6:32pm

I'm so excited to see this show next week. I love Southwark Playhouse. 

[Gizmo6]

Posted: 6/19/18 at 7:20pm

Just home from this. What a production.

I never got this show from the recording.

Caroline and Gemma sang the hell out of this score and sounded glorious.

I loved the production, the staging, the orchestrations and set.

The male supporting cast were fantastic.

The jumps in time worked effortlessly and it really rugged on the heart strings.

I’d love to see this in Circle in the Square.

[tjjster]

Posted: 6/19/18 at 9:25pm

About 10 years ago my bf and I were dreaming up possible Encores shows (he was working for Jack Viertel) 

We talked about the Rink. First pairing we talked about was obviously LuPone/Benanti, but then I threw out the idea of Goldie Hawn and Kate Hudson.

I still think that could have been amazing. Sadly I think both pairings may have aged out of the roles by now.

Updated On: 6/19/18 at 09:25 PM

[binau]

Posted: 6/24/18 at 5:17am

Circle in the Square would be a perfect venue for this show! I was able to have a return "Visit" to the show yesterday, and I do concede that LuPone is a little too old for the role. Several character traits, lines of dialogue and the entire song "Mrs A" probably won't quite make sense with LuPone at her age (not to mention how to deal with the occasional moments of dancing) , and it's especially difficult because the time period is weaving back to when she was with her ex-husband. I wouldn't say it's IMPOSSIBLE if a good director is up to the challenge of trying to make it work, but they would be slightly fighting against the material.

What about Donna Murphy? The extra 10 years up her sleeve might make all the difference. And she is the kind of actress that I think has the presence + skills to take the challenge of the role.

It really is quite difficult to think of someone for this role. Maybe someone can take a risk and bring O'Connor over. In any case, I hope this production can at least spark some interest in the show. I can't help but feel the show will be much better received if mounted today than in the past. In typical Kander & Ebb style, on the surface the show looks 'happy' and 'fun' (and it can be) - but this is surfacing a much darker, unpleasant reality of deeply flawed people. There is some very tense/sharp dialogue, and themes of looking back to the past that reminds me a bit of Follies. It's an odd show in terms of marketing - even this production suffers from it. On the surface it looks like a campy, frivolous musical about roller skating. But on the whole, it's really not. It's a dark musical about deeply flawed characters trying to cope with their fractured relationships and unpleasant past. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgyJdwJePAE

Updated On: 6/24/18 at 05:17 AM