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[Ron Pulliam]

Some fun, eh!

[Ron Pulliam]

Page 3.

[Jane]

DR John G the photo of the mushroom pie looks yummy.

[Jane]

I've never wanted to see TAXI DRIVER.

[bk]

Jennifer, we can agree to disagree.  As I said, my post was not directed at one person specifically, although the person who then responded would certainly have been in the group.  And sorry, this is a living room hosted by someone who has been very gracious to everyone here even though believe me there are times when it could have been otherwise.  Lots of people post about their stuff here - and I'm always complimentary about it because they are people who deserve graciousness.  Silence doesn't cut it, I'm afraid, not when dealing with creative types. 

[bk]

Taxi Driver is still powerful today (and its ending is still hard to watch), but it's worth watching just as a time capsule to see what the real New York and Times Square was like.

[Jane]

Lindsay Lohan was very good in "The Parent Trap" remake...when she was, what? -- 11 or 12?

I've heard about her promise for more than a decade now, yet I've seen no glimmers of it in anything she's done.  She had a very short stint on "Ugly Betty"...one that might have generated more work for her.  The upshot was that she became difficult, insulted the show's star and was unceremoniously let go.

I, for one, am tired of such personalities...wastes of time and energy.

I know.  It is sad and I wonder why the news continues to follow her.

[Jane]

OK. I have been seeing "Outside the Box" but it's not my sort of humour. I think one needs to have an affinity with musical theatre to really appreciate it, which is something I don't have. Sorry!

There's no need to be sorry - humor is subjective.

I think it would be good to recount a little story Jason Robert Brown has been telling for a decade now.  He and a friend, both aspiring composers, contacted Sondheim, their idol.  He chatted with them and then arranged house seats for them to see his latest (presumably Passion).  They were to meet their idol after the show, to dine.  Apparently they really didn't like the show.  They went to dinner and talked about everything BUT the show.  As the evening went along, Mr. Sondheim was getting clearly irritated, more and more so as the minutes went by.  He finally forced the issue and they told him they hadn't cared for it.  And he lit into them, saying that the only thing an artist needs to hear after someone sees their work is "Good job" or "I liked it."  That's it.  Steve felt and feels this is when an artist is at his or her most vulnerable and it doesn't really matter if it's a white lie or not.  Just a "Good job" and move on.  That was my point yesterday - there's an elephant in the room here.  Graciousness is a wonderful trait and I've also had to learn the hard way that it's the better road to take.  It was not my intention to make anyone uncomfortable, but there are human beings here with feelings.  Doug's response here is fine - he doesn't respond to musical theater stuff - that's easy.

I don't know what it is, but somewhere down the road, being gracious and polite about people's work has gone by the way side.  Part of me thinks it comes with the sense of entitlement that people can say whatever they want to whomever they want whatever the consequences may be - almost like they are too "good" for these consequences to matter.  IMHO, no one is exempt from this, and it was correct for Mr Sondheim to give it to them.  Whatever happened to class?

I don't agree. Yes people should be gracious. They were going to be gracious and not say that they didn't like it.  I don't think you should push people and then expect them to lie. 

I agree, gracious is not saying anything if you don't like it.

[Jane]

Mary Poppins was enjoyable. My niece loved it. She said it was better than the Lion King and Shrek.

After the show they did a speech for BC/EFA and they had some things they were giving away for donations. Everybody seemed to want the plastic bracelets ($5). They were really cute.

[Jane]

Bruce you have been congratulated on your successes or your hard work.  I think those comments acknowledged what you have done.  Personally I think, unless you ask which you just did, it nicer not to say anything negative.  I realize your intention isn't to make anyone uncomfortable but it does, which is why they didn't say anything in the first place.

[Jane]

I just took my anti-nausea prescription.  With luck that will prevent me from up chucking the drink I need to take at two.

I'm not sure I'll be back again until tomorrow, depends how sick this makes me.

[Doug R]

How annoying - one of the lenses in my glasses, which I've only had a few months, has fallen out. The tiny screw holding the lens to the frame has disappeared somewhere. So it means a trip to the opticians tomorrow, providing I can drive there without crashing into something.

[Ginny]

I just took my anti-nausea prescription.  With luck that will prevent me from up chucking the drink I need to take at two.

I'm not sure I'll be back again until tomorrow, depends how sick this makes me.

Mega vibes for DR Jane!

[bk]

Bruce you have been congratulated on your successes or your hard work.  I think those comments acknowledged what you have done.  Personally I think, unless you ask which you just did, it nicer not to say anything negative.  I realize your intention isn't to make anyone uncomfortable but it does, which is why they didn't say anything in the first place.

Sorry, I side with Mr. Sondheim about this.  Everyone's mileage may vary and that's fine.

[bk]

Actually, let me make it easier for you: You go see PennyO in her show.  You don't think she's very good.  You go backstage or you talk later.  Do you say nothing?  Especially if she asks?  I think you know the answer.  Or you see Ben's ever-lovin' Ant in a show and he and Ben are together after - do you say nothing?  Is that what you do?  And if they ask "Did you like it?" you say nothing?  Or you say, "Gee, I really didn't - I didn't think Ant was good and the show was kind of awful."  Is that it?  Because there's no difference here, except it's a chat board.  Feelings are feelings, I'm afraid.  If the above scenarios were me, I'd say "Good job" and be done with it, because that's the friendly and nice thing to do and it's kind of painless to do it.  To be silent would speak louder than if I said "Hated it", which was Mr. Sondheim's point.

[elmore3003]

My Christmas allbum from Kritzerland arrived today. I will take it to Toyland tomorrow and listen to it there.

[elmore3003]

I lost one of my best friends this year who asked me what i thought of a show he was in. I told him he gave a fine performance in what I considered a good summer stock revival.  Several months later, he called nd trashed me for being a lousy friend. I am sorry the friendship is over, but:
1. at intermission, he and his wife walked out of THE BRAIN FROM PLANET X at NYMF, a show I loveand am very proud of my connection to it
2. they weren't crazy about FINIAN'S RAINBOW
3. they walked out of something else I worked on
4. I couldn't get them to drive to Goodspeed to see any of my work there, no matter how hard I begged them

Clearly, it rankles or I would have forgotten these instances, but my disliking a Broadway revival that I thought was secondrate lost me a very good friend.  Go figure.

[Matthew]

Actually, let me make it easier for you: You go see PennyO in her show.  You don't think she's very good.  You go backstage or you talk later.  Do you say nothing?  Especially if she asks?  I think you know the answer.  Or you see Ben's ever-lovin' Ant in a show and he and Ben are together after - do you say nothing?  Is that what you do?  And if they ask "Did you like it?" you say nothing?  Or you say, "Gee, I really didn't - I didn't think Ant was good and the show was kind of awful."  Is that it?  Because there's no difference here, except it's a chat board.  Feelings are feelings, I'm afraid.  If the above scenarios were me, I'd say "Good job" and be done with it, because that's the friendly and nice thing to do and it's kind of painless to do it.  To be silent would speak louder than if I said "Hated it", which was Mr. Sondheim's point.

Like

[Doug R]

Perhaps my lack of interest for musical theatre stems from the one and only musical I did, "The Belle of New York", in which I played Karl Von Pumpernick. Afterwards I asked a friend who was in the audience what she thought of it. She bluntly said “I thought it was crap”. She added “You were good” but I wonder whether she said that so as not to hurt my feelings. 



I'm on the right 

[Ron Pulliam]

Clearly, it rankles or I would have forgotten these instances, but my disliking a Broadway revival that I thought was secondrate lost me a very good friend.  Go figure.

Or, rather, it corrected the misperception you had that this person was a very good friend.

[bk]

Perhaps my lack of interest for musical theatre stems from the one and only musical I did, "The Belle of New York", in which I played Karl Von Pumpernick. Afterwards I asked a friend who was in the audience what she thought of it. She bluntly said “I thought it was crap”. She added “You were good” but I wonder whether she said that so as not to hurt my feelings. 



I'm on the right 

What a wonderful photograph!

[bk]

Guess who just Linkended me?  Alexandra Morgan - who I have not heard from since the day we wrapped The First Nudie Musical - she plays Mary LaRue.  I wrote her a little note.

[elmore3003]

Guess who just Linkended me?  Alexandra Morgan - who I have not heard from since the day we wrapped The First Nudie Musical - she plays Mary LaRue.  I wrote her a little note.

She is so fantastic in her damned didos tantrum. I love her!

[George]

Guess who just Linkended me?  Alexandra Morgan - who I have not heard from since the day we wrapped The First Nudie Musical - she plays Mary LaRue.  I wrote her a little note.

Cool!

[bk]

We had our little Face Time session and I placed the ensemble in three numbers.  I'll work with the East Coast Singer privately on all her entrances and exits and stuff.  They'll call back when the three numbers that have choreography are ready to show me - in about an hour.

[elmore3003]

Clearly, it rankles or I would have forgotten these instances, but my disliking a Broadway revival that I thought was secondrate lost me a very good friend.  Go figure.

Or, rather, it corrected the misperception you had that this person was a very good friend.

A friendship of nearly 30 years is not a misconception. However, there's no underestimating the shallowness of people.

[bk]

Alexandra and I will probably be having dinner.

[bk]

Page three?  Three pages?

[John G.]

Saturday night I watched the last hour or so of GYPSY on TCM.  In the dressing room at the burlesque house - I could swear there is a poster with a caricature of Ethel Merman on the wall.....has anyone else noticed it?

I can't find a still or capture of it online.....

Is that movie hard to find on DVD? From some posts, that's what I gathered. Yet at Costco, the Natalie Wood collection, for $12.99, had "Gypsy" among the half-dozen or so movies in the box.

I picked up another box, of women's movies, I guess is what they called it, or leading ladies, just because it had 'Shoot the Moon" in it, a movie I love. Anyway, the odd collection also featured "Up the Down Staircase," "I'll Cry Tomorrow" and the remake of "Rich and Famous."

[John G.]

Guess who just Linkended me?  Alexandra Morgan - who I have not heard from since the day we wrapped The First Nudie Musical - she plays Mary LaRue.  I wrote her a little note.

Ah, proof that LinkedIn is worthwhile.