Ballroom Revival?
Ballroom Revival?
OOTI2004
Broadway Star Joined: 10/29/05
#1Ballroom Revival?
Posted: 3/27/07 at 6:15pm
Does anyone else think this would be a good idea?
I know the show didn't do all the great the first time around and the score isn't particularly amazing, but I would like to see this done.
Especially since the public is getting interested in ballroom dancing again, shown by the popularity of Dancing with the Stars.
If so who could play Bea(Dorothy Loudon's role)?
sondhead
Broadway Star Joined: 10/25/06
#2re: Ballroom Revival?
Posted: 3/27/07 at 6:21pmYa it won't happen. Fifty Percent is not enough to make $110 worth it.
PersonofInterest
Featured Actor Joined: 7/9/06
#2re: Ballroom Revival?
Posted: 3/27/07 at 6:37pmIt would never sell, but I would LOVE to see Encores do it. I'd love to see Stritchy in the Loudon role. Or Bea Arthur, although Bea did "Fifty Percent" in her one-woman show and it wasn't all that impressive.
#3re: Ballroom Revival?
Posted: 3/27/07 at 6:39pmUnless they can bring back Loudon from the hereafter, no thanks.
MargoChanning
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/5/04
#4re: Ballroom Revival?
Posted: 3/27/07 at 6:56pm
I've love to see it get the Encores treatment someday (with a top rank middle-aged actress in the lead), but we'll never see a full-scale revival of it on Broadway. There all sorts of shows that were hits the first time around (Mame, Funny Girl, On the Twentieth Century, Promises, Promises) that are seen as too big and expensive a risk to bring back, so I doubt there's a long line of producers anxiously waiting to sink $10 million into a show that was a huge flop in its first incarnation. Unless, someone can talk Bette Midler into coming back and doing 8 shows a week again for a year on Broadway -- good luck with that -- Ballroom won't be revived.
And anyway, who's around these days who could fix it? I mean, if a genius like Bennett at the top of his powers couldn't figure out a way to make it work, I shudder to think what someone like Wayne Cilento might do to it.
"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie
[http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/]
"The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney
#5re: Ballroom Revival?
Posted: 3/27/07 at 6:58pmWasn't Mame revived with Lansbury and it failed miserably?
husk_charmer
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/19/06
#6re: Ballroom Revival?
Posted: 3/27/07 at 7:15pmTyne Daly did it a few years back and was AMAZING as Bea, so for an Encores or Musicals in Mufti production, it would be possible...Bea Arthur is a bit too old now, I think.
http://www.youtube.com/huskcharmer
#7re: Ballroom Revival?
Posted: 3/27/07 at 7:17pm
There was a revival done in Long Beach in the early 90s, back when they still had their CLO, with Tyne Daly and Charles Durning.
The book was revamped, along with some of the songs being changed around..it worked very well..far better than the original production, and it also reverted to the title 'The Queen of the Stardust Ballroom.'
Why Barry Brown decided NOT to bring that to Broadway instead of the so-so revival of 'Gypsy' with Ms. Daly..I don't know.
-Politics is like driving. To go backward, put it in R. To go forward, put it in D.
MargoChanning
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/5/04
#8re: Ballroom Revival?
Posted: 3/27/07 at 7:26pm
Yes, Mame came back with Lansbury in 1983 and only lasted a month, due in part to several factors -- they stuck it the wrong theater for the show (The Gershwin was way too large for what was essentially a touring production and it swallowed up the show); the marketing was either mishandled or nonexistent, depending on who you talk to; it was a mistake to bring it in at the end of summer. Lansbury was terrific, but the production seemed lackluster. It was the wrong production at the wrong time at the wrong place and it never had a chance.
There was talk of bringing in the Baranski Kennedy Center production last summer, but with lukewarm reviews, a theater shortage and Baranski's lack of box office appeal, it was eventually scuttled as being too risky financially. It probably will only come back again in the future if a MUCH bigger star name gets attached to it.
"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie
[http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/]
"The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney
Updated On: 3/27/07 at 07:26 PM
#9re: Ballroom Revival?
Posted: 3/27/07 at 7:36pmThe Gypsy revival starring Tyne Daly was far from so-so.
Hey Dottie!
Did your colleagues enjoy the cake even though your cat decided to sit on it? ~GuyfromGermany
#10re: Ballroom Revival?
Posted: 3/27/07 at 7:37pmMargo, what top-of-the-rank middle-aged actresses do you think would be good for an Encores! staging?
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
bare_nakedlady
Broadway Star Joined: 5/9/05
#11re: Ballroom Revival?
Posted: 3/27/07 at 7:46pmDidn't they do the revised version "Queen of the stardust ballroom" a few years ago in Chicago? I remember reading something about it. Ah well... of to search.
"It's like children's theatre for 40-year old gay people!" - XANADU THE MUSICAL
MargoChanning
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/5/04
#12re: Ballroom Revival?
Posted: 3/27/07 at 7:53pm
Bernadette would be an interesting choice (she can do both the comedy and the vulnerability).
Harriet Harris' singing voice isn't the best, but I think she could nail the role.
Dana Ivey? Judy Kaye? Judi Dench (yeah right)?
"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie
[http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/]
"The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney
morosco
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/10/04
sondhead
Broadway Star Joined: 10/25/06
#14re: Ballroom Revival?
Posted: 3/27/07 at 8:17pm
Ellen Greene
Not a huge name, but I'd be there opening night. Would be pretty fierce.
Mr Roxy
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/17/03
#15re: Ballroom Revival?
Posted: 3/27/07 at 8:19pm
Saw the original & enjoyed it. Much of that enjoyment came from Loudon's performance especially 50 %. The 3 cut songs I have heard are great as well
Reviving a flop show that would not resonate with a younger audience is not a recipe for success
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