Playbill has an article up today with their top 12 picks for Miss Hannigan for the upcoming revival of Annie. I've been dream casting this role since the production was announced, and I thought they came up with a few good ones (some of which I hadn't even thought of).
When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain.
-Kad
She's doing The Anarchist this fall. And as much as I'd love to see her as Miss Hannigan, I'm way more excited to see her do a new play.
When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain.
-Kad
She's tied up with KINKY BOOTS in Chicago, but Cyndi Lauper would be my first choice for Miss Hannigan. Although, the Lillias White idea does sound appealing.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
Rosie would turn it into Miss Hannigan: The Musical. No thanks!
A Chorus Line revival played its final Broadway performance on August 17, 2008. The tour played its final performance on August 21, 2011. A new non-equity tour started in October 2012 played its final performance on March 23, 2013. Another non-equity tour launched on January 20, 2018. The tour ended its US run in Kansas City and then toured throughout Japan August & September 2018.
If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
Out of all of those actresses, I'd kill to see Beth Leavel tackle this role. She would be absolutely hysterical.
I am a firm believer in serendipity- all the random pieces coming together in one wonderful moment, when suddenly you see what their purpose was all along.
I think the role is beneath her and don't think she should do it (lol **** I am ridiculous), but Bernadette Peters would be a hilarious Hannigan....I can easily imagine her "Little Girls" - it would be hilariously uncomfortable with her being like an overgrown little girl stuck in an orphanage herself.
"You can't overrate Bernadette Peters. She is such a genius. There's a moment in "Too Many Mornings" and Bernadette doing 'I wore green the last time' - It's a voice that is just already given up - it is so sorrowful. Tragic. You can see from that moment the show is going to be headed into such dark territory and it hinges on this tiny throwaway moment of the voice." - Ben Brantley (2022)
"Bernadette's whole, stunning performance [as Rose in Gypsy] galvanized the actors capable of letting loose with her. Bernadette's Rose did take its rightful place, but too late, and unseen by too many who should have seen it" Arthur Laurents (2009)
"Sondheim's own favorite star performances? [Bernadette] Peters in ''Sunday in the Park,'' Lansbury in ''Sweeney Todd'' and ''obviously, Ethel was thrilling in 'Gypsy.'' Nytimes, 2000
Beth Leavel sounds like a glorious casting opportunity. I seriously hope they let the show be the star and not go for "Geena Davis IS Hannigan" route. Non-star casting can sell out a theatre if the show is well-done. Just look at South Pacific, War Horse, Book of Mormon, Wicked, Lion King, etc and all the "star" shows that have failed like 9 to 5, Relatively Speaking, Elling, etc.
The Chenowith suggustion boggles me. There is no way a group of 12 year olds taller than her would EVER find her threatening.
Lapine mentioned when they first made announcements that he wanted Meryl Streep, but quickly said "But it'll never happen.".
I'd love to see Rosie play Hannigan, but only in a concert staging or benefit or something like that. Not this full blown revival, or at least not until it's about to close. But she wouldn't be able to do the show anyway, now she's busy with her show and living in Chicago.
The Kristin and Bernadette mentions were a little out there. Both were Lily St. Regis... not quite the same type.
I actually heard from a friend who went to an audition for Annie, that Andrea McArdle was there auditioning with all the others. So, she's definitely up for it.
Why no mention of Wanda Sykes? She just did it at some regional theatre. Was she any good?