#like a bootleg of an off-broadway play

[marlinspirkhall]

Sorry I'm kinda meh about any critique of the chibnall era being bad at this point because when I went to rewatch the RTD era everything people were complaining about was very much still there, the shitty camera quality just covered it up. And also the fact you were five years old when it aired.

[violetwolfraven]

Wait wait wait remember that post about how Team Starkid/the Lang brothers are going to be comparable to Shakespeare 500 years from now and it was mostly played for laughs like yeah lol you’ll need a paragraph of footnotes to explain the zefron poster but like

I don’t think that’s actually far off from how Starkid’s place in theatre history might play out and here’s why. Just hear me out

Why is Shakespeare so popular today when he definitely wasn’t the only playwright from that era? When he’s not even the only playwright from that era from England that we have surviving works from?

Two main reasons:

1) Shakespeare’s work is (relatively) universally relatable. The characters do things that are so fundamentally human. They make jokes at their friends’ expense. They complain about being awkward in front of their crush. They have daddy issues. The plot lines of the plays aren’t too complicated. The dick jokes land whether you’re watching in 1611 or 2024, and they probably still will in 2637. Shakespeare’s works are timeless because he didn’t try to outsmart his audience. He wrote about things everyone could relate to rather than trying too hard to peacock his intellect in front of the nobility. This is not true of every playwright.

2) Shakespeare was really popular right around the time England started colonizing everything in sight. Copies of his work got shipped all around the world, translated into dozens of languages, performed probably thousands of times. Setting aside the moral implications of this, the important thing to note is that Shakespeare was about the most easily accessible English playwright during a time of rapid, intense globalization.

Meanwhile, Starkid:

1) Invests hard in meaningful, relatable character arcs instead of spectacle and expensive sets or costumes. Also, lowbrow, immature humor and dick jokes that make A Very Potter Sequel funny and enjoyable regardless of if you’ve ever seen any other Harry Potter media in your life.

2) Posts professional recordings of their musicals to YouTube FOR FREE, making their shows about the easiest, best quality musical theatre you can get pretty much anywhere in the world, regardless of if your area has an active theatre scene. Proshots from other companies are rare and usually not free. Bootlegs are all well and good, but even if the video quality is alright (and that’s a big if) the audio is usually garbage. Starkid has been posting the best quality free recordings they can afford since 2009, shortly after the birth of social media, another time of rapid, intense globalization.

In short, I’m not saying that theatre historians in 500 years won’t remember any our current Broadway faves, but I am saying that in my opinion, Team Starkid is probably going to be more accessible for the general public. If you’re a 26th century English teacher trying to teach your class about narrative structure in 21st century theatre, what are you going to show your students? A bootleg of Hadestown with blurry video and garbage audio? Or the professional recording of Twisted, parts of which they will probably even enjoy, because even long after no one remembers Disney’s Aladdin anymore, your class of 26th century 16-year-olds are still going to laugh at “No One Remembers Achmed.”

[retrofalsettos]

Collection of pre-revival Falsettos/Marvin Trilogy bootlegs & other recordings

lmk in the notes if you have any you'd like me to add!

Full length (or mostly full length) off broadway/broadway/tours:

1993, (mostly) original broadway cast, unlisted youtube video

1993, same recording as above but a public youtube video

Most likely 1992, Carolee Carmello as Trina (act 1 only)

1994, Mandy Patinkin as Marvin

Falsettoland 1990

Other full length productions:

Hartford Stage 1991 (youtube link)

Hartford Stage 1991 (google drive link)

In Trousers, Trinity College (youtube link)

In Trousers, Trinity College (vimeo link)

Falsettoland, Trinity College

Other shorter recordings:

What Would I Do, Michael Rupert & Stephen Bogardus, 2009 concert

Father to Son, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, Michael Rupert & Sivan Cotel

Father to Son, Mandy Patinkin

Four Jews in a Room Bitching, 2007 w/ Malcom Gets

The Baseball Game, OBC, on TV at some point in the 90s

Falsettoland (song), Japan 1994

March of the Falsettos (song), New Orleans 2000

I Never Wanted to Love You, New Orleans 2000

The Games I Play, New Orleans 2000

Unlikely Lovers, New Orleans 2000

You Gotta Die Sometime, New Orleans 2000

Love is Blind, Cape Town, year unknown (has the original MOTF blocking & lyrics which I think is cool)

Egads! Theatre, In Trousers clips

[minipuff005]

I’m back on my musical bullshit so here are my (objectively correct) opinions

We need more proshoots of shows

Now you might be thinking : well they already have to shoot film of the show for their archives- and yes I KNOW. So WHY can I not get a DECENT RECORDING of beetlejuic?

Because of corporate greed!!!

We dont want a Wicked movie!!

We want a good recording of the stage play!!!

You see how well Hamilton did when it got its proshoot released

We want that!!

I want that!!!

I want to be able to see The Great Gatsby without having to drive over 70 miles to the nearest theatre and then shelling out at least a hundred bucks!!

As much as I love and adore musicals I hate how we the musical loving community subsist on broadway scraps. Little bootlegs that we collect and share amongst ourselves from the brave people who sneakily film them for the rest of us to watch. I’m not booing them. What I’m saying is that (especially in this economy) a lot of people aren’t wealthy enough to go see live shows anymore. Even just the movie theatre is a splurge, heaven forbid off broadway. And even more people live in rural areas and even if they can maybe afford the money for a ticket, the time to get there and back and gas prices are abominable.

As much as I am willing to pirate basically everything (because I am poor) I would willingly shell out the money for a good musical streaming service just to make a point that this is what we the people want.

Now, the reason they have given for not doing this even though every musical have been filmed for their archives which they refuse to share is that they think that will cheapen the work. Make it too accessible to the point that no one will go see live shows anymore because they can just watch them on the tv and it’s like they don’t even know their audience at all.

There are so many benefits to making broadway stage productions more accessible the first being that more people could find them! If they love the show they are going to want to see it live! And they can know whether or not they love the show of they can watch it without paying a hundred dollars. More people could gain an appreciation for the art. It could inspire the next playwrites, directors, and set designers, but with the way things are right now only the people who can afford to see it live or the people who go to the internet archive and watch the bootlegs because they dumped hours into figuring out how to find the decent recordings can even know how wonderful it is.

I know I’m just ranting and there is probably no one who will see this and be able to just make a broadway service but I just had to spew my words. So anyway art is dead, Bo Burnham was right and trying to warn us all along and I’m going to go watch some Fred Astaire movies.

Thank you and goodnight *jazz hands sadly*

[alyona11]

Hi! So I am very new to Hadestown and I am watching the bootleg. I really love the dynamic between Hades and Persephone, but there is one thing that kind of rub me in not so good way, is Hey Little Song Bird implied that Hades and Eurydice slept together? I am seeing a lot of interpretation and it genuinely confused the hell out of me asdfghk

Hi! Well, tbf it's a tricky question, but the short answer is that Hadestown suggests that something might have happened behind closed doors. The rest is up to audience and actor's interpretation.

For example, Anaïs Mitchell often mentions in Working On a Song that in early workshops she often went with the idea that Hades cheats and pretty regularly even though these affairs mean nothing to him since the only person he loves is Persephone. It even had a cut song:

In her early drafts/productions of Hadestown you can often get the vibe that from her point of view it doesn't matter as much because they are eternal beings and love each other since the world began so does it even matter for them?

However, by NYTW this story line was cut apart from Persephone's line in How Long:

"I don't mind if you look at other girls, now and then"

"The girl means nothing to me"

"I know"

Plus the staging in NYTW Papers and Hades' protective peacock behavior with Eurydice around Orpheus in the scene also gives you a thought that they might have had an affair? Plus some bits like the fact that she has a line in Why We Build a Wall and her words "But don't you see? That's different with me!" - "Different than who? They thought they were different too!" Could also be interpreted as Hades suggesting some special conditions by granting her a role of a romantic interest. Whether the interest is real or not and did he use it or not is again up to your interpretation of NYTW Hades. He is more of a morally dubious guy (as all ht Hades are) so it's more up to you to either believe he would have cheated to put Persephone in her place or would just use showing off Eurydice as a brutal way to get Persephone's interest.

As for Broadway, I think it's still suggested and you can find profs in the lyrics but I think that they are what they are - suggestive and leave you to interprete it whichever way you feel comfortable. I think the biggest suggestion remains in Flowers with the line:

'I trembled when he laid me out

"You won’t feel a thing," he said, "when you go down"'

Which kinda can have a death meaning and sex meaning, tbf someone could have written a good article on how those topics are connected in Hadestown. So here, again chose one of the two or both.

But again, Broadway also changed the lyrics in How Long and the whole staging in Papers so it's less suggestive.

My personal opinion based on Broadway production is that it all depends on how the actor plays it and whether you believe this particular Hades is the type to sleep with Eurydice to get Persephone's attention and prove he is still attractive or he is more of a person who doesn't care about having the affair and his only goal is to get Persephone to react somehow by composing such a messed up hurtful plan. Personally, I prefer the second option maybe because I'm a pussy or maybe because I see Hades (whom I mostly base on Patrick Page ht Broadway previews) like a person who is desperate to get Persephone's attention in such a radical way like a cat pushing objects from your table to see your reaction. He wants to be stopped, he wants any reaction from Persephone. He even touches her by the shoulder before going into the office like "Look!! Look! I'm absolutely totally leaving! To cheat! See! Hey come on! I'll even take off my tie to show that I'm serious! Don't you wanna stop me???". Seems kinda way too extra to me. Like he could have just gotten to the office after parading a pretty girl in front of her and it would be understood that it's for an affair. But he takes so much time to make sure she understands that he can find himself someone when all he wants is for her to come back to him with open arms. I'm not sure he has the guts to actually damage his relationship to an irreversible degree (considering Broadway Hades is never stated as a cheater before the Eurydice sub-plot). Like it's one thing to take a mortal before her time and parade her in front of your wife (because what is a mortal life after all?) as a "replacement" and it's the other way to actually cheat on her and deal with the fact that she might never forgive him again if it is a deal-breaker for her considering they seem to be true to each other for all these years.

One interesting thing to note here as well is how Hades actors play the reaction to Persephone's line in How Long:

"He has the kind if love that you and I once had"

Because his instant reaction is "OH SHIT once had?? Does she think I don't love her still?? OH SHIT I BROUGHT THE GIRL THIS IS WHY SHE MIGHT THINK THAT", so he answers to that:

"The girl means nothing to me!"

Depending on the actor and she show the line sounds either scared, confused, angry, undignified etc. So it's once again up to you to interprete why he reacts this way: is he angry because she suggested he would actually cheated on her? Is he angry because she called him out on that affair? Is he confused and scared because she thinks he doesn't love her anymore because of his foolish decision to tease her in such a cruel way?

That's up to you.

P.S. I think one of the most interesting studies of the subject and Hades' character that I've read in a fic for that matter was the Songbird chapter of Winters Nigh and Summers O're. You can check it out, but I will warn you that it's probably one of the heaviest chapters of that fic in the emotional sense and it has explicit parts (don't worry, nothing bad happens to Eurydice. Well...apart from dying, I guess), so check out the warnings if you decide to read it.

[marybeatriceofmodena]

How did Phantom ruin ALW and Sarah Brightman's marriage?

That's a sadder story than the Sunset Boulevard drama, unfortunately.

So, Sarah Brightman started out on the disco scene as a teen, where she was part of a group who had... this single. That was back when Star Wars: A New Hope had just come out, so you had a lot of space-inspired... stuff floating around. Yeah, let's put it that way.

Eventually, since disco was on its way out by the end of the 70s, she switched the musical theatre, and auditioned for a little musical called Cats.

(WHY DOES IT ALWAYS COME BACK TO CATS. OMG. NEXT THING I'LL KNOW I'LL FIND OUT JAMES CORDEN'S MOTHER GAVE BIRTH TO HIM DURING A CATS PERFORMANCE OR SOMETHING.)

So, ALW did not notice her during her time in Cats - it was later, in 1984, when she was in a production of a children's opera called Nightingale, which he saw because it was getting very good reviews. At the time, ALW was already considering making a musical based on The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux... but here's the thing. There were actually a few attempts at making a musical about Phantom. The most recent one at that time was Ken Hill's, which was playing in London in 1984. It was doing well-enough, to the point ALW went to see it with Cameron Mackintosh (for those who don't know, he's the producer for Les Mis and Phantom, and also Satan), they met up with Ken Hill, and they were allegedly impressed enough by it that they wanted to revamp the show and put it on a bigger stage.

EXCEPT THAT NEVER HAPPENED, AND ALW JUST WENT AHEAD AND WROTE HIS OWN THING, AND KEN HILL NEVER HEARD OF HIM EVER AGAIN.

(Side note: I've also seen a story going around that Sarah herself was approached for Ken Hill's musical, but I'd have to confirm that.)

Anyway, what happened is that ALW and Sarah really hit off, and when their relationship became public, it was all over the tabloids because they were both married at the time. So they left their respective spouses for each other, and got married not long after, and that's when the preparation for Phantom really started picking up.

If you read the novel and seen the musical, Christine does undergo a personality and appearance change: she's blonde in the novel, but she's brunette in the musical because Sarah is a brunette, and they made her a lot shyer and meek to fit her personality (and limited acting range according to some) better. What ALW wanted to do was to present his wife as a triple threat - she could sing and she had a classically trained soprano voice, she could dance (she was a trained ballet dancer and could go en pointe), and she could act (YMMV on that).

They presented the musical for the first time at the Sydmonton festival in 1985. For those who don't know, it's basically a vanity festival ALW hosts at his place where he presents his projects. It was VERY different from what it was going to be later. If you're ever curious, this is what it looked like (sorry for the terrible quality, it was a bootleg after all).

But all was not well in paradise, because making Phantom was a very grueling process for both of them. ALW was convinced the musical was going to flop, they'd argue, and Sarah would end up in tears more often than not. (And that's without mentioning the drama that happened with the lyrics, and with Hal Prince, and with Steve Harley who was supposed to play the Phantom before Michael Crawford came in, and how some people in the crew nicknamed Michael Crawford "Joan Crawford" because he was a bit of a diva, and I'm skipping a bunch lmao)

So Phantom opened in London in 1986 to great success, and even greater success on Broadway in 1988, but by then, the marriage was virtually over. Sarah and ALW separated in 1990, and her "goodbye gift" was starring in his follow-up musical, Aspects of Love... which flopped. And it's kind of a shame because her acting got a lot better in that (probably because of her own lived experiences lol).

Sarah has been doing pretty fine since, she had a successful solo singing career, and she almost went in space but had to cancel (still sad about that). As I mentioned before, I think ALW is not really over it (despite having re-married since, lmao) and LND is a result of that.

While I'm at it, that reminds me that LND came very close to never coming to the light, because in 2007, ALW's new kitten, Otto (WHICH IS THE BEST NAME FOR A KITTEN EVER), basically pawed around his electronic piano and deleted all of the music he had written for LND. I wish I was making this up, but I'm not.

I told you. It always comes back to cats.

[treba-neco-napise]

i hate having four fucking ads on a 20-minute podcast episode.

(it's a rant, enjoy.)

no, i don't want to get your shitting plus subscription, i don't even pay for 95% of the films and shows i watch online. stop fucking begging for patrons, it's not our problem you want to do this full-time. good for you if you do it but it's not somehow our duty to get you there just because you're a creator. not everyone can afford 60 fucking subscriptions. instead of people getting the minimum to at least get by as a basic human right, i bet like 85% of creatives online are making elite clubs on patreon and shit for those who have spare money. i get that you need it, but so many people (especially PDA neurodivergents) are extremely put off by being asked to pay and won't do it (like me) just because of that. i've encountered art that had the option to pay without requiring it, and I did. because they deserved it anyway, and they understood the classism and capitalism ingrained in the internet creative culture and that a lot of people don't have the means to become members of the club. i'm planning on starting a podcast, been wanting to publish fiction in paper since i was a kid, and i still want to make all that 100% free with the option of payment, because i believe that knowledge, stories and art should be accessible to anyone, regardless of financial situation (what do you think libraries are for, hm?????). when it's not, that's when elitism starts to rise and i'm just too tired for that shit. the empty snobbery culture around modern art alone is driving me insane.

Starkid has been recording their performances for years and guess what - they're massive, they sell out, people attend their live plays for the experience, but those who can't are still able to be a part of the fandom (as opposed to broadway musicals that get shared through bootlegs, hm) and they don't expect their fans to be responsible for their means of living. people who want to see a live performance, to buy your book in a bookshop professionally bound and keep it, to thank you for making your day by buying you a coffee will do so of their own free will. don't beg them to pay for your groceries if you made the choice to put your art out there. it's the system that is responsible for taking care of your basic needs, not your fans.

[ragsandrascals]

Hello! Thanks for following me! If you didn’t know, I was actually one of the first ones to actually search for the musical back in 2018, when I saw The Lost Media Wiki page about it! I was absolutely obsessed with it for 2 years, and I listened to the Broadway bootleg plus found out about the Russian performances on YouTube! I totally agree with your recent post about Ann not being a motherly character, In my opinion she’s like a crazy older sister type

Woah! That's so cool! I'm happy its not too controversial of an opinion, I only found it a year or so ago, but Its awesome to hear from people who were there from the begining. I intend to make a follow up post but if I have someones attention I might Yap a bit.

There's no doubt that Ann wants to be maternal, and in some instances, she can be. But it's far from the “I know what I'm doing things will be okay” kind and there are different kinds of maternal relationships (not even poppa is that kind of maternal because the characters in this show have so much depth and humanity) that I won't get into but yeah she feels much more like the oldest sibling who is sort of parentified and has no actual idea of what to do but pretends to anyway, she’s like a child playing mom.

I'm sure I'm running off the rails a bit but In her actual song the words “I don't know, who do I think I am” (at least the demo and ESPIA versions have that) it's in the text that she's just as clueless and has afraid as everyone else and she even doubts herself in the doll hospital. I feel like I came off as brash saying she's not maternal earlier, I don't view her as maternal, but she very much can be read that way, and it's a powerful reading to portray a motherly character as afraid and clinging by a thread

I just want people to remember she's a person too and she’s just as scared as Marcella, and Andy, and Baby.

[libertineangel]

Hey Clashblr, check these out

Since there's a few of you around now that are still getting into some of the deeper cuts, I thought I'd put together a post highlighting some of the oft-forgotten obscure material for you to check out. Gonna stick it under a cut, 'cause there's a fair bit and Youtube links take up a lot of space on the dash.

Fasten your seatbelts, hold onto your hats, let's go yeah?

First up we have The Escapades of Futura 2000, lyrics by the man himself with music written & played by the Clash. Futura was the rapper on Overpowered By Funk, and also a graffiti artist who accompanied the band on the Combat Rock tour across the US painting stage backdrops live through the gigs. This particular upload is the 12" mix, which has a good extra minute over the version released last year on The People's Hall.

Here we've got the complete double-sided 12" 19-minute experience of This Is Radio Clash - the track we all know and love to open, then the more commonly remembered B-side Radio Clash (almost identical, not quite the same), then things get real funky with Outside Broadcast, and Radio Five ties it all together. Those last two have never seen a reissue on any compilation whatsoever, probably the most obscure tracks in their entire official discography.

This one's Robber Dub, a remix of Bankrobber from Mikey Dread (not to be confused with Rockers Galore, his other remix that actually features him on vocals). Featured on Super Black Market Clash but interestingly not in the "complete" Sound System box set, an omission that's always perplexed me.

Speaking of, I'd thoroughly recommend checking out both of the mentioned collections if you're not familiar, between Super Black Market & Sound System you've got every officially-released song other than those two Radio Clash extras - so, with that in mind, let's dive into the real offcuts that never even made it onto a record.

How's about seven and a half minutes of Topper playing around with a drumkit & piano to start us off? Some people still don't believe this is even The Clash, that someone scrounged up some random sounds and stuck it on a bootleg, but that's bollocks because I'm pretty sure bits of it ended up in Hell W10, their endearingly crap short film from '81 (watch it here, it's a 50-minute London crime drama). What people are wrong about is that it was ever going to be on Rat Patrol From Fort Bragg, because this is the real tracklist; relatedly, there's alternate mixes of most of those tracks around if you care to look for them, they're not hard to find, except for the high-quality acetate rip that surfaced two years ago that has been scrubbed off the face of the fucking internet, from the 20 minutes I just spent searching it seems even Internet Archive wasn't able to withstand the might of CBS. Anyway...

OK, so technically this one has made it to a record, but that record was the Vanilla Tapes bonus disc of the 2004 reissue of London Calling, it never actually got beyond demo stage. Honestly I doubt they ever really expected or intended it to, sounds to me like the band having fun in the studio, but fun it is. There's actually a few demo-only Vanilla Tapes tracks I could stick here, but this is long as fuck already so instead I will simply give you the lot to peruse at your leisure.

Sticking with demos that eventually got an obscure release, this one is from the Give 'Em Enough Rope sessions but wasn't heard until the On Broadway compilation in '91. It's a solid number of course, they hardly put a foot wrong, but it's nothing groundbreaking.

This is from that same compilation, from the same sessions, it's a cover of the classic soul tune and I like it. Understated, gentle but with that pained passion in the vocals Mick carries so well, and that nice subtle bass is a sweet touch.

Our last couple of tracks are live numbers, and this one's a special one-off performance with the great Beat poet Allen Ginsberg, from the 10th June date of their infamous Bond's residency. He wrote it specifically to perform with the band, six minutes of cantankerous complaining about just about any ideology you care to name while the band (and their sound man, gotta credit those perfectly-timed dub echoes) give a strident backing. Topper was on fucking fire for those gigs, just listen to that kick drum.

And finally let's close out where they began, way back in '76 with Keith Levene. This one's probably my favourite of their earliest offcuts, but personally I prefer an even earlier version of it that Youtube doesn't seem to have, from their third ever gig (and first known recording) at the classic Screen on the Green punk showcase. Five of the thirteen tracks on that setlist never made it to the studio, plus it includes the original lyrics to I'm So Bored With You, and it's all here.

[droughtofapathy]

The Gilded Age's Broadway Divas: Peggy Scott (Denée Benton)

The stylish and erudite Peggy Scott is the bridge between the whites of New York and the oft-overlooked Black elite. Her story is often separate from the vapid society scandals our other ladies are deeply entrenched in. While they sip tea and bicker about opera boxes, Peggy hides from a lynch mob in a barn and kisses a real-life historical figure with a wife and child at home. Great.

Denée Benton made her Broadway debut in my personal favorite show, Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812, one of Tumblr's personal favorites as well, apparently. In it, she played the young ingenue, Natasha Rostova, marking a significant victory for young Black women who never get to play romantic leads, especially in traditionally white stories. She then went on to join the Natasha-Eliza pipeline and took on the role of Eliza Schuyler in Hamilton, a character originated by Philippa Soo, who had previously played Natasha in the first few off-Broadway productions of Comet. Full circle. Adding to the pipeline, Shoba Narayan who was an ensemble member and Natasha understudy also went on to star as Eliza in one of the touring companies of Hamilton.

Before and after shooting season two of The Gilded Age, Denée returned to the stage to star as Cinderella in the Encores! Into the Woods production last spring. More on that later.

#1: "No One Else," Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 (2016)

Now, when I call classical sopranos a dying breed, I am not saying they no longer exist. Denée Benton is one of the few young sopranos in the theatre, and we all dearly hope she continues to grace our stages rather than transfer to the lucrative world of film and television as so many do. Denée's singing voice in this is just exquisite. I saw it four times on Broadway, and I'd have seen it god only knows how many more if it hadn't closed.

Great Comet was a critical success in its off-Broadway life. Based on a 72-page slice of War and Peace, it follows Natasha Rostova as she navigates young love and all the scandal that entails. It is a beautiful production no matter where you see it. Whether it was in the tent in the Meatpacking District, or the gorgeously renovated Imperial Theatre. Unfortunately, it was an expensive endeavor that did not pan out financially for producers. Broadway was just a little too big. But it has since had a robust regional and international life, spawning productions in Brazil, Japan, and across the U.S.

On-screen mother Audra McDonald (Dorothy Scott) sang this song in April of 2015, several months before Denée would take over the role of Natasha. Like mother, like daughter. Audra's rendition has since been taken off youtube, and I am bereft. But I can link you to an audio HERE.

#2: "On the Steps of the Palace," Encores! Into the Woods (2022)

Concluding their 2022 season, NYCC launched a wildly successful production of Into the Woods, one of Sondheim's most beloved works. Here, Denée plays Cinderella and we all know and love that story. Broadway itself has had at least four Cinderella stories, and I'd argue this one is the best adaptation. But the competition is...not fierce. (With condolences to Bad Cinderella's Grace McLean, fellow Comet cast member.)

The Encores! production then transferred to Broadway in July of 2022, but by then Denée was filming Gilded Age and did not transfer with it. So of course, who came in to replace her? Philippa Soo. And, when the show's original cast move on and the new cast came in, Denée Benton was back in the saddle as Cinderella again. Isn't theatre a wonderful thing?

The above is just a brief clip of Denée during Encores! If you want a full bootleg, let me know.

#3 "Maybe This Time," 11th Annual "Living For Today" Fundraiser (2018)

Showcasing her range, as more than just a lyrical soprano, Denée took part in a night of Kander and Ebb music to benefit the Gilana's Fund alongside other Broadway actors like Betsy Wolfe, Lesli Margherita, and Bebe Neuwirth, my beloved.

This song is, of course, from the classic Cabaret, now returning to Broadway this spring in a reimagined production from the West End. Bebe Neuwirth to star as Fraulein Schneider. It's all connected.

And once again, Audra McDonald has also sung this song. And it's as marvelous as you think.

Someone please mount a production of Light in the Piazza where it's a dual cast situation. On A days, give me Ruthie Ann Miles and Anna Zavelson for Asian!Piazza, and on B days give me Audra and Denée for Black!Piazza.

LINK TO MASTERPOST

[izloveshorses]

Just out of curiosity what's wrong with zadkins!dimya? I never got to see the show at all (just bootlegs) so I don't know anything.

I do agree with the 1NT though. I have no idea what they were thinking with Lila Coogan. She pronounces every single thing she says the same way?

anon you have no idea how much this ask delighted me. i'm in tears. i'm so so so excited this made my whole week.

first-- lila was only casted bc she knew lynn ahrens, i believe. this happened a lot with anastasia at the time unfortunately, when it came time to replace the principal cast they kept choosing people they knew or people who were already in the show instead of finding new talent. stephen (steven? i can't be bothered to remember) covered dmitry on broadway so they hired him as principal dima on tour and that was such a waste too tbh 💀 other than a few delightful people here and there, 1nt was such a bland and forgettable cast to me. 2nt superiority <333

now. for zadkins. a couple years ago i would've answered this privately bc his stans would've eaten me alive, but it appears no one left here cares for him anymore anyway ashdljfdjk so!!! i'm gonna be mean. so sorry. or not sorry. i don't really care anymore lol.

man. another bad case of promoting someone mediocre instead of hiring and training someone new. he always kind of gave me an ick, like on a Regular Person level, but for now let's focus on his performance:

the man cannot sing. he yells. he cannot act. he yells! i'm like not an expert or anything on either but i know a bad singer when i hear one lol. there's a moment in my petersburg where he growls? yuck. he and christy, as talented as she is, had no chemistry. not even like compared to christy and derek (which was like ~Magical Chemistry~), they just had zero chemistry period. even off stage their interactions felt weird and forced. i think he tried too hard to be Different™ from derek that he ended up playing dmitry wildly off book. i mean, you Should come with a new and fresh take on the character, that's fair. but he was almost playing a completely unrecognizable character altogether. (the glebya stans love his dmitry for a reason)

and then he kept thowing little fits off stage-- he got a tattoo when he wasn't supposed to, complained about being compared to derek, etc. he was kind of strange with christy sometimes. on one of her live streams during playtime (the 15 minute stretch between crossing a bridge and iacot, where she would invite the little girls and other folks off stage to hang out in her dressing room) he said he saw her in spring awakening, a show with some nudity, and she was clearly uncomfortable by the way he said it. he was also weird online, there was one instance where a teenage girl tweeted and asked him to come to her birthday party and he?? showed up????? he was also dating ashley park at the time and i think the breakup was messy 💀

his stans were awful. i know it's not his fault, but god. they were so loud, constantly complaining about derek for some reason? a man who minds his own business??? bc the only way you can support your fave is by hating everyone else on main?? the infighting was insane. you had to be there.

and oh man. when they announced cody simpson was replacing him.... it got so much worse. they were tearing that little blond australian man (who can actually sing and act, mind you) to shreds. every review was scathing when the show needed a boost. zach threw a fit about it too, because his contract was ending early (i mean. the show was actively losing money because he was so terrible. so yeah of course they're gonna replace him with a stunt cast ashdljfk) and you compare that and his stans to derek and derek stans just quietly mourning his exit and enduring but otherwise minding our business.... yeah. the only anastasia obc member with a bad attitude fr

so you pair that (the Yikes that is zadkins!dima) with max von essen's gleb (as much as i loved him he was also a miscast, i believe he's said the same) both yelling at anya the whole time with the mediocre 1nt cast,,,, of course you have people walking away from the show going 'so,,, what the hell was that. i could've just watched the movie.'

this is just speculation but i truly believe if i had to pinpoint an origin as to why the show isn't open anymore i would say principal zadkins at such a crucial time was their downfall. the second year is so important to get people to come back and to get new audience members at the same time and they botched it. instead of bringing in new talent they just stuck with mediocre people who already knew the tracks. the show had all the ingredients for being the next wicked, but damn. casting for anya, dmitry, and gleb are so important. you really need people who Get It to portray them, and if you have one weak link the whole show falls flat. and for several months, before cody was brought on and before constantine returned to play principal gleb, christy altomare was carrying the whole thing on her little shoulders.

and THEN you have the whole year two Red Dress marketing campaign, which misinterpretted the show So Badly as ~just another princess show~ to compete with frozen across the street... yeah of course it tanked. but that's another topic.

so! in conclusion........,,, summer-winter 2018 was a dark time for fanastasias ashldkjfjk we were in the Trenches

i would also like to let the record show the fact that we got masters who returned Twice in the same month to film derek/obc in september 2017, which are the bootlegs that are probably the most circulated other than hartford, and returned again in january 2019 to film cody and constantine, and returned AGAIN for closing in march. two whole bootlegs of my guy cody simpson and uhhhh zero for zadkins <3 as god intended <3

this isn't even half of it but this is what i remember from The Dark Time. anyone else is welcome to chime in, this is a safe space to be a hashtag hater <3

[mercuriallily]

🧵🎯✍️

🧵 (what's your favourite production and why?): I'm super basic so 1998. I've seen bootlegs of the Broadway revival and a few other productions but honestly I just don't really jive with those ones

I think the performances in 1998 are some of the best. Everyone plays their characters perfectly, and the choreography is on point. Like the concert versions of Les Mis, the fact that it uses a large orchestra makes the music that much better. Sure, it has its faults (what doesn't?), but I still greatly enjoy it

🎯 (what's a common headcanon/theory/interpretation that you don't prescribe to?): I'm not a shipper, so I don't really buy into Tuggoffelees. I don't think it's a very interesting dynamic, and sometimes it just seems too forced

✍️ (if you had total creative control over a production of Cats, what would you change and why?): First things first: I'd give them a variety of tails (some wrapped, some fluffy, some half-and-half, but Cassandra would keep her braided tail). I hate when they all have boring shrimpy rope tails. They're all different kinds of cats, let them have different tails! (If anyone's curious, I can draw up a list of who would get what tail)

Pekes and Pollicles would be after Old Deut's introduction like it used to be, so they're putting on a show for him. It's one of the weirdest parts of the entire show and it's honestly much funnier like this than having it be Gus' memory, plus I prefer when Gus is portrayed as more serious and decrepit. On that note...

If I was only allowed to change one thing, I'd bring back old Griz. Her character arc does not work when she's portrayed as young. "I can smile at the old days / I was beautiful then" makes no sense when she looks like she's just stepped off the Paris Fashion Week runway. When her hair is nice and smooth and her coat seems nicely tailored, it's less "she should be the Jellicle choice" and more "she looks so normal, why should she be chosen?" When she's scraggly and messy and looks like she's about to drop dead, you actually feel sorry for her (or at least, that's the intention). Portraying her as young just proves that theatre folks are afraid of older women

I'd bring Electra and Etcetera back. I love their dynamic, and I think the show needs more kittens. Also, let Etcetera do the scream at the end of Tugger's song. I don't like when Rumple does it, it just doesn't feel right

There are other things I'd change too, but this list is already too long lol

[navysealt4t]

alright so it's been abt a week since i saw rent the musical live and i have some thoughts. the first draft TOTALLY broke and got lost so heres vers2. no spoilers here, as i So highly recommend going into it blind

i had a whole ramble about the sanitization of queer media and musicals and high schools v broadway being both shit whatever

but. the thing that was so beautiful abt this..small theatre, small cast, its run by a nonprofit. etc.

but the thing its its done by real people. real queer people from the community. there are real queer people not some hollywood sanitized just-queer-enough bullshit. there are real flamboyant people being themselves on the stage. but thats not what set me off

quick recap, it's the aids epidemic, show starts with a guy starting to make a film, it's christmas eve. by the end of the show, hes made the film, and they project it onto the backdrop. and its not some shitty recycled footage, or even footage from the show.

it was the actors. being themselves and being real. being real queer people in the real world and talking to and interviewing people on the street. and that just.. it just got me man. i don't cry. but goddamn.

i cannot recommend this musical enough. it was funny it was sexy it aas devastating it was beautifully fucking sung, it was incredible. live if possible but if i find a niceys bootleg ill let you know. genuinely lifechanging and beautiful i think i am going to be thinking about this for the rest of my life. that is all.

OH MY GODDDDD that sounds amazing hellooooooo :((( i haven’t listened to or seen much of rent but man that sounds :(( ough so cool. i’m glad u had a good time GAH that sounds so cool. that’s so smart actually such a fun like set design story thingy :( and YES I GET WHAT U MEAN WITH THE LIKE SANITIZATION THING!!!!

in the school play i’m in, it’s like all above love between 2 people. shows ppl getting together, breaking up, falling in love, etc etc. and honestly lots of the scenes r rlly sweet and my scene is two women who have been best friends their whole life and realize they love each other and literally. fall in love. it’s a little cheesy but yeahh. i’ve seen sooo many videos of the production by other theaters and school that either A. get rid of the scene or B. MAKES IT STRAIGHT. LIKE???

[leporellian]

thoughts on broadway and/or the tonys and/or musical theater in general

fuck i never did get around to this LOL here we go

broadway... compels me in some weird way. like for every single complaint musical theatre fans lob at opera- 'it's too much about spectacle!' 'it's too elitist!' 'it's funded by rich people!' (which that last point in and of itself is. Have you ever been to europe. but the way in which opera criticism is uniquely USAcentric is a convo for another time) are all... like... right there in musical theatre on broadway.

arguably those are even more of a problem over in musicals. musicals have Brand Identity. when you think of wicked, every wicked production is specifically built to look the same, with no real difference in direction or performance besides individual casting. (and also that infernal dragon, for some reason, that they never even really actually use except for like one moment where it wiggles around a bit. a lot of my memory of seeing wicked in 9th grade is just remembering how absolutely disappointed i was that they had a big dragon animatronic and they never used it in a satisfying way! like, what the fuck! anyway, again, tangent.) even if there isn't a cohesive brand there's the matter of rights settlements, and certain creative restrictions, and on top of that there's the fact that it is incredibly hard to go watch broadway musicals if you don't have transportation and monetary access to them. (and don't get me started on whatever the fuck "bootleg trading" is. like man they're even inventing capitalism in new places. hello.)

opera meanwhile is the wild fucking west. most of the standard rep works are in the public domain. there's only 1 standard rep opera i can think of off the top of my head that has any creative restrictions in the performance license contract, and given the one creative restriction with that one is "please have black people play the black characters and don't do blackface you freaks jesus christ" i'm totally down w/ it. if you want to go watch opera, there's thousands of recordings on youtube and on specialty sites like operaonvideo.com that just act as a huge performance archive. opera is genuinely one of the most accessible art forms there is with the advent of the internet.

(man remember when hamilton had basically a free raffle for 10 dollar tickets every week or whatever that was? meanwhile the opera company in my college city literally just sells 11 dollar tickets to students and every time you buy one from them it acts like it now has a blood debt to you. crazy.)

broadway is like genuinely so capitalistic it baffles me, godbless. and i do WANT to understand musical theatre better but a lot of the time it just sort of whizzes past my head and i have no idea what to make of it. (that, and theatre kids are.... Well. Yeah)

THE TONYS are equally baffling, but instead of broadway which feels like some strange dystopian world, the tonys have a distinctly alice in fuckin wonderland shit to me. there are opera award shows but none of them are nearly on the same level as the tonys. it's cool that the trophy spins around i think. i think its very obvious the tonys largely exist as a further marketing mechanic and not as like... actual awards, but to be fair thats the point of all awards shows at this point anyway. (well, that and making a lot of people very angry.)

looking at this year's nominations for example. here are some of my thoughts: i forgot about the some like it hot musical, i genuinely have no idea who the audience of that is meant to be. CORN MUSICAL??? who the fuck made a CORN MUSICAL and WHY? &juliet terrifies me with its existence. the plays should unionize together. i dont know why i was surprised ben platt is there i thought he just kind of faded into the walls after the dear even hansen movie or something. isnt new york new york a frank sinatra song. oh shit the sweeney todd revival already premiered? (i dont keep up with broadway news) why is there a corn musical. also when i looked up the tony awards i accidentally typed in 'the toby awards' which is apparently an award show for building design. Anyway thats my analysis as someone who is genuinely so clueless about current broadway news

[sneakystorms]

Do you prefer the Broadway or Off-Broadway cast album of Great Comet?

DEFINITELY the Broadway one because denée Benton is The Natasha of my heart like I'm sorry but I'll take this opportunity to turn this into a denée Benton rant. The naturalness and artlessness and sincerity she imbues Natasha with is staggering and imo gets right at the heart of what her character is about but then her moments of dignity are so on point as well and her anger is Natasha & Sonya is like my favourite part of the entire performance!!! Phillipa soo is great but whenever I see or hear her performance it seems a little too sweet to me whereas denée Benton plays her with such earnest and powerful emotions... Ok denée Benton rant over I also love Josh grobans voice (Dave is a good Pierre in many respects and it's awesome to see him perform this role he clearly identifies with but his voice never felt right to me) and of course dust and ashes!! One of my favourite songs!!!! The only thing I hate is the removal of Natasha lost from the studio version it's my favourite Natasha solo and I love the music in it...

Which brings me to the conclusion which is that with great comet the bootleg will always have my heart a thousand times over either studio recording. The strength of the emotions just doesn't come across as well as when the singers can belt the notes out in a theatre and besides the audience reactions and crackly audio quality give it a certain vibe that suits this show well... I think I compared it to listening to an actual recording of a live vaudeville or cabaret show!! Also in the studio version you miss out on bits like the opening "NO!!" and stuff!! So yeah live recording all the way. I dearly wish they'd release an official one already

[notebookmusical]

Hi! I know what voice you're talking about and it seems like it really sucks. I know when I can't talk..that means it's also pretty painful too. Which is once again so awful and I'm sorry for the horrible timing! Oh that seems fun but it sucks that you're not seeing a show, and it sounds like a nice tradition. If it makes you feel better, I don't have any plans to see any shows either. I mean I probably will see one eventually next year but there's nothing I'm excited for or looking forward to.

Maybe watching a bootleg can help, but I know it's not the same. I know i have said I haven't been very into or caught up on recent Broadway stuff and sometimes it does make me sad. I am planning to read the Starless Sea in January too I hope so I'll keep that in mind. I didn't think of the Pippin revival but that's also an example of a revival trying to do something a little different I think. And I actually did watch Schmicago and thought it was pretty good! They might've actually referenced Pippin with a narrator character. I think it was actually better than the first season actually and the references were a lot more clear, at least to me. I would recommend it but did make me miss Broadway. At least they have Broadway actors though. I need to get better at watching shows too..that might have actually been the last full show I watched and that was back in July lol but I think I'm just more of a movie person usually.

But mostly I'm a music person and I can recommend my favorites. Omg I didn't know that..I've seen a few clips of Fall Out Boy on tour and it seems awesome. I hope you have the best time! So I'm not as into Fall Out Boy..like I've never done a deep dive on old albums and I was more of a casual fan at first. But their new album is great and since you're seeing their tour, you can just focus on that for now. My favorites are Fakeout and Love from the other side. For Paramore, I would listen to their albums in order cuz it's cool to see their evolution as a band and they don't have that many. They also have some covers and unreleased songs too. But if you wanna start with their newest album, I think it has a good mix of all of their sounds too. It's my favorite album of this year. I can also just list some favorites of mine here kinda going in order by album,. Oh Star, I caught Myself, Brighter, My Heart, Misery Business, When it Rains, Crushcrush. Brick By Boring Brick, Turn it off, Playing God, Misguided Ghosts, and all I wanted. Daydreaming, Last Hope, Hate to see your Heart Break, one of those crazy girls. Rose colored Boy, Fake Happy, 26, Tell me How, Running out of time, Big Man, You First, Liar, Crave and Thick Skull. I know that's a lot..wow i'm even surprised. I debated cutting it down but in case you don't listen to the full albums, this is what I would recommend! For her solo music, I would just recommend hearing the albums. Anyway what other vinyls did you get?

I definitely prefer Folklore, because I love a lot of songs on the album and I just know what my favorites are. Compared to Evermore, where some of it is more like background music to me. Ive already told you what my least favorites are and I might have unpopular favorites. My favorites are Evermore, Coney Island, Dorothea, and Gold Rush and Long Story Short . I also like No Body No Crime, Cowboy Like Me, Ivy and Right where you Left me cuz sometimes it feels like a movie. Ya Evermore does feel more cohesive to me or like it all blends together but my favorite songs are definitely on Folklore. That's why I've never understood the whole Folklore is a better album but Evermore has better songs thing lol. Also now it's Taylors birthday today..yay! Are you planning to watch the eras tour movie? I think I will sometime this weekend probably. Then its your birthday too and if anything, I will send you a message wishing you happy birthday if I don't reply. I hope you have a great weekend and birthday!!!

guess what guess what my voice is a little more back today !!! so fingers crossed it'll be completely back by saturday!!!! i've decided to make bracelets for the hockey game, so i'm going to be doing that tonight/tomorrow i think!! it'll be a nice break from making taylor bracelets :") (although i need to make some so i can mail them out next week eep!) i think my next show will probably be the company tour ... unless i see a regional production of spring awakening (which i'm tempted to; just depends on the cast and stuff).

i almost watched TBOSAS last night! but then i put the kraken game on instead </3 (which i'm glad i did because it was a beautiful game! and we won!) and i originally was going to stream eras tonight (i have $20 digital credits expiring on the 15th) but i forgot i have a thing at 7, and by the time that's over i won't want to watch a 3 hour long movie — so something for another night! you'll have to let me know how it is watching it from home! i suspect it'll be so much nicer to watch it all cozy and all but i wonder if i'll miss the cinema vibe!

i listened to part of the first paramore album yesterday when i was getting my allergy shot! i liked what i heard, but will need to finish it and then do another listen through to figure out what my favorites are! i ordered from the dirty hit store, so i figured if i was paying for ridiculous shipping costs i might as well bundle up so i actually ordered more than i normally would: i got the japanese house's saw you in a dream & pools to bathe in, beabadoobee's loveworm + the way things go 7", finally preordered benjamin francis leftwich's some things break vinyl + ordered his to carry a whale vinyl and after the rain, and the 1975's 7" all i need to hear + i like america and america likes me (real world version) ! and i have sabrina carpenter's fruitcake ep coming in i think on friday! so definitely way too many vinyls coming in haha. i need to cool it! way too many vinyls! i still need to finish working on my little vinyl craft project too, but that might be a next week problem / after the game / after my bracelets are done! i have like 15 ? that i need to prioritize for mailing out but then i can chill out for a little bit!

have i asked you for an updated taylor discography ranking yet? i'm curious to know what your ranking is/if it's changed since we last talked about it, especially with 1989 tv! you can distinguish between stolen and taylor's version if you'd like too!

i hope you have a lovely weekend 🤍 and thank you for the birthday wishes! x