Broadway Speculation

[jo]

I do have the DVD of NEWSIES -- he CAN certainly dance and he can sing ( check out the "Santa Fe" number on YouTube) and he can act. This video clip is not too good because it might have been taken from a TV showing of the movie, but it does show Christian singing and dancing.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=WG7knE9lo5A


A song sung by Scarlett as background for a docu was among those nominated for an Oscar Best Song (alongside SUDDENLY). ALWebber has also confirmed that he had offered her the part of Maria in the stage musical of SOUND OF MUSIC in London but she eventually declined the part. Her voice does not sound very "legit" but it has a sultry sound to it ( I really like her recorded rendition of "Summertime").

LOL- nevah would I think they could all be in a stage version -- just some fantasizing on my part

[birchie]

Aug 1, 2013 16:00:20 GMT -5 jo said:

I do have the DVD of NEWSIES -- he CAN certainly dance and he can sing ( check out the "Santa Fe" number on YouTube) and he can act. This video clip is not too good because it might have been taken from a TV showing of the movie, but it does show Christian singing and dancing.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=WG7knE9lo5A


A song sung by Scarlett as background for a docu was among those nominated for an Oscar Best Song (alongside SUDDENLY). ALWebber has also confirmed that he had offered her the part of Maria in the stage musical of SOUND OF MUSIC in London but she eventually declined the part. Her voice does not sound very "legit" but it has a sultry sound to it ( I really like her recorded rendition of "Summertime").

LOL- nevah would I think they could all be in a stage version -- just some fantasizing on my part

Trust me he will NOT do a musical! I have Newsies too and he's adequate but he had to be taught everything and & was dragged kicking & screaming into it. He tried very hard to get out of his contract. As for SJ, I know she likes to sing and that song was nominated, I didn't really care for it or her singing but, I don't like her so that may influence me. I know you're just having fun with this and it's not going happen anyway so what the hell, have fun! LOL!
Sue

[jo]

What I would like Hollywood to do, in addition to musicalizing their movie hits, is to bring back to the big screen the musicalized version of former film classics such as SUNSET BOULEVARD! This is one rare instance where it is very difficult to chose from either one : the non-musical film noir or the stage musical version by Lloyd-Webber! Both are simply compelling storytelling and outstanding character portrayals! Although of course, being a musical theatre fan, I would give the edge to Norma and Joe singing about their tragedy and short-lived happiness!

Jo

[jo]

In the meantime, Michael Riedel talks about another emerging phenomenon on Broadway and beyond --

www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/theater/top_billing_jayCAoEegNU3AKt9Zl9HuN

Top billing

A major star in a B’way show can rake in more than a movie
By MICHAEL RIEDEL
Last Updated: 12:26 AM, August 2, 2013
Posted: 10:39 PM, August 1, 2013


Michael Riedel

ON BROADWAY

It’s tough being a movie star these days.

Unless you’re in one of those franchises — “Spider-Man 12,” for instance — work in Hollywood is spotty.

And if this summer is any indication, things may soon get worse: The supposed blockbusters — “The Lone Ranger,” “Pacific Rim,” “After Earth” — are all duds.

But Tinseltown’s travails are a boon for Broadway, because they mean more A-list stars and directors are going legit.

I hear that Steven Soderbergh is so fed up with the movie business, he's focusing on theatrical projects, including “Magic Mike,” “Behind the Candelabra” and “The Library,” a new play about the Columbine massacre that he’s directing later this year at the Public Theater.

I also hear that Tom Cruise’s “people,” as they call ’em in the movie business, are on the hunt for a play for the aging action hero to star in on Broadway.

He’s been inspired by the success Tom Hanks enjoyed in “Lucky Guy.” Though he didn’t take home a Tony, Hanks had a great time doing the play and pocketed about $2 million for a few months’ work. And if he were so inclined, he could keep filling his coffers: Russian and Japanese producers are offering him ridiculous amounts of money to do the play in their countries for just a week or two.

A new business model on Broadway: A star launches a play in New York for 14 weeks, scoops up a couple of million, takes a little hiatus and then picks up millions more doing the show in Moscow.

“The Russians will pay anything for a star,” says an industry source. “These are going to be some serious paydays.”

Agents and producers should study the Hugh Jackman model. After Jackman became a sensation in “The Boy From Oz,” he took a chopped-down version of the show to Australia and performed it in arenas and stadiums.

An Australian producer tells me, “We made obscene amounts of money.”

Colin Callender, the very smart producer of “Lucky Guy,” is, I’m told, trying to develop a series of star-driven vehicles. Among the A-listers he’s talking to about doing a play is Jim Carrey.

What Callender should do is line up three plays with three big stars and then book a prime Broadway playhouse — The Schoenfeld or the Jacobs, say — for an entire season and put on the productions there, one right after the other. A sort of movie star repertory company.

(That’ll be $250, thank you very much!)

I bet the Russians would offer him tens of millions of rubles to then ship the Superstar Repertory Playhouse to Moscow for a month.

(If there’s a dud in the batch, send it to Siberia.)

The star-in-a-play model has been pioneered, in an informal way, by Scott Rudin. The producer has enjoyed tremendous success with Denzel Washington in “Fences” and Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Death of a Salesman.” This fall he’s got Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz in “Betrayal,” and in the spring he’s got Washington in “A Raisin in the Sun,” with Diahann Carroll and Anika Noni Rose.

Rudin hasn’t toured any of these star-driven vehicles, but I had dinner the other night with a producer who runs a major theater in the Midwest who said her board of directors would strike any deal to have Washington do “A Raisin in the Sun” there for even a couple of weeks.

“I guarantee you, we would sell out every single performance and we could charge Broadway prices,” she said.

Since her theater seats more than 3,000, that’s a lot of money to be made in a very short period of time.

So forget Hollywood and Vine.

The new crossroads of the entertainment business is Broadway and Seventh.

*Michael Riedel is obviously exaggerating because earning $ 2 million for a few months is nothing compared to what a big star can earn filming a movie, even if it is intended only as a moderate hit. But treading the boards is obviously a fresh renewal of a career, so that can be a motivation, in addition to getting fresh exposure.

*Some actors go back to the theatre because that is where they all started ( Rachel W and Daniel C, Denzel, even Hugh!). It also refreshes their acting reservoir because live theatre is such a different challenge than making movies. As they say, the theatre is the actor's medium!

*But the HJ model is not for everyone because other than Hugh I do not know if there has been a successful movie star ( real A-lister) who is also a triple threat and can do a full-scale musical! It might not be practical to do a straight play in an arena or stadium as Hugh did for TBFO-Australia. Michael Riedel is wrong in his perception that TBFO-arena was simply a chopped down version of the Broadway hit! It is as much enjoyable as the Broadway TBFO but in a different sense because it took on the spectacle of a great concert!... Can Tom Cruise succeed in a musical ( he had Rock of Ages, but we know it wasn't well-received as a Hollywood product)?

*Hugh has also set another career model -- regularly straddle your career in both film and theatre; do dramas, musicals, and action movies ( preferably with a franchise), and the occasional romcom ( if that is still in favor); branch out, if your talent allows it, into entertainment ( such as concerts or hosting main events). Hugh can even go into classical theatre - finally do that dream Shakespeare with Trevor Nunn and dazzle England!


Good for New Yorkers and the bridge-and-tunnel theatre fans!

I envy you -- although I have seen a few ( Denzel in Julius Caesar, Julia R and Bradley Cooper in Three Days of Rain, Daniel Craig with Hugh in A Steady Rain, Banderas in Nine, Jude Law in Hamlet, Jessica Lange and Christian Slater in Glass Menagerie, etc.). But my most unforgettable was seeing Ingrid Bergman emote right in front of me, on a very low stage I could almost touch her long skirt - I already liked sitting on the front row then -- of course many, many years ago!


Jo

[mamaleh]

Happy 74th birthday to Trevor Nunn today--which gets me to musing as to whether he will ever direct Hugh in a major Shakespeare production, either in NY or London.

Ellen

[jo]

A footnote on BIG FISH which closed after only a few months from opening --

www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/big-fish-producer-dan-jinks-696015?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+thr%2Fnews+%28The+Hollywood+Reporter+-+Top+Stories%29

Excerpts --

Big Fish is the story of Edward Bloom, a man who tells larger-than-life tales that everyone loves, except his son. Finding the right star to play Edward Bloom turned out to be a more difficult part of the process. Unlike the movie, where the role of Edward is split between Ewan McGregor and Albert Finney, in the stage version, one actor plays the whole part, making it a giant role for a leading man. For a time, Hugh Jackman was a real possibility. He did the first reading for us and was quite wonderful.

The reaction to the show at that first reading was extraordinary. Suddenly this show -- which, at times, had felt like a very expensive hobby -- was feeling very real.

But, in the end, Jackman decided not to do it. It's tough for a movie star to commit to spending a year performing in a stage show, which is the minimum time for a new musical to pay back its investors. Michael C. Hall did a reading for us, but he was always committed to going back for a final season of Dexter. So, ultimately, we convinced ourselves that we didn't need a big Hollywood name; the show itself would be the star. We cast a Broadway star, two-time Tony Award winner Norbert Leo Butz, who was great in the part (as were co-stars Kate Baldwin and Bobby Steggert)...

[mamaleh]

He's such a tease. He does readings for BIG FISH, ON THE TWENTIETH CENTURY and HOUDINI, all adding up to nothing.

After one of his early solo show tryouts in San Francisco, I remember speaking with him about the charming whimsy in the BIG FISH plot. It turned out that was one of the elements that attracted him to the project. Well, so much for whimsy.

I didn't see any in the script for THE RIVER.

Ellen

[jo]

It looks like he gave up BIG FISH ( if he had been considering it in April-May 2011, around the time of the SFO tryout) when the most productive time in his career came along ( Back on Broadway show, Les Miserables filming, The Wolverine filming, promotion for Les Miserables including awards promotion, and filming of Prisoners). The cast announcement of Big Fish, with Norbert Leo Butz, was made in September 2012.

Jo