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[John G.]

Made it to Kos. Went on a nice walk around the hotel, down to the sea and back.

[John G.]

Two!

[Ron Pulliam]

The second series finale was for "So Help Me Todd", my favorite show on TV right now.

It has done extremely well, ratings-wise, and many CBS shows aren't doing as well.  They have been renewed, but "So Help Me Todd" was not.  CBS has done a lousy job explaining their decision to drop the show, and the fans of the show are furious.

Much ado has been expressed about some other network needing to pick it up and continue the show, but no one has stepped up as yet.

The season's final show, which - when shot - was not known to be the series finale, was a cliff-hanger.

So, only time will tell.

But, from my lips to all ears that will listen:  BADLY DONE, CBS!

[singdaw]

Has anyone ever seen Fanny Price and Fanny Brice in the same room at the same time?

[singdaw]

Asking for a friend...

[singdaw]

Mansfield Park starring..... Barbra Streisand!

[singdaw]

Another smoky day here...   but this time, the wildfires are from upstate, not Canada.

[singdaw]

Enjoying your travelogue, DR John G.

[singdaw]

A travelogue is like a repor, but with a foreign accent.

[ChasSmith]

Good morning, all.

[singdaw]

Once Upon a Mattress with Sutton Foster is going to Broadway. So, another Broadway credit for our dear DR elmore3003!

[ChasSmith]

Once Upon a Mattress with Sutton Foster is going to Broadway. So, another Broadway credit for our dear DR elmore3003!

And there goes our rights. I don't think Concord has even dropped the bomb on our theeder yet, though we've been expecting it. Where do you see this, DR singdaw?

[ChasSmith]

Okay, it's out there now.

[singdaw]

A "Broadway Briefing" email:

They've set an opening for a princess.
"Sutton Foster to lead Broadway revival of ‘Once Upon a Mattress’" by Broadway News' Ruthie Fierberg - "Broadway is preparing to welcome the classic musical “Once Upon a Mattress” to the Hudson Theatre this summer. Following a run with New York City Center’s Encores! series, the revival, guided by Tony Award-winning producers Seaview and Creative Partners Productions, is scheduled to begin previews on July 31 ahead of an official opening of Aug. 12. The limited engagement is set to run through Nov. 30.

Sutton Foster will lead the cast, reprising her role as Winnifred the Woebegone. Encores! artistic director Lear deBessonet, who was Tony-nominated for the Main Stem transfer of her Encores! “Into the Woods,” will direct this production that features a new adaptation by Emmy Award winner Amy Sherman-Palladino (co-creator of TV’s “Bunheads,” which starred Foster), based on the original book by Jay Thompson, Dean Fuller and Marshall Barer. “Mattress” features a score by Mary Rodgers (music) and Barer (lyrics). ...

The creative team for this revival will also include choreographer Lorin Latarro, Tony-winning scenic designer David Zinn, costume designer Andrea Hood, Tony-wining lighting designer Justin Townsend, Tony-winning sound designer Kai Harada, music supervisor Mary-Mitchell Campbell, music director Annbritt du Chateauas, Tony-winning orchestrator Bruce Coughlin and hair/wig designer J. Jared Janas. ... Further casting, by the Telsey Office, will be announced. General Management will be provided by Wagner Johnson Productions. Cody Renard Richard will serve as production stage manager."

[singdaw]

Does that mean they're re-orchestrating it again?

[Ron Pulliam]

TOD:

Am expecting delivery today of "Dune, Part 2" on 4K Blu ray.  I don't know if I will watch it right away, but it is in my near future of things to see.

[ChasSmith]

I hope this at least brings some good news for DR Elmore and Josh.

Fame!!! Fortune!!! Ya know?

[Jrand74]

I am a cat 6.

[Jrand74]

DR FREDDIE I really like the staging in that clip!  And Ruby Wax is so great - she's Betty Monroe, mentioned in a song in ROCKY HORROR SHOW.

She unlocks the door with a hairpin so they can escape.....and at the end of the clip, she uses the hairpin to jump start the Thunderbird.  She also steadies Charles Gray when he stumbles as the chasse out of the row of chairs.

The traveling with the shag kicks and an underarm turn and the turn in waltz hold....it's all just so much fun.

[Jrand74]

Once Upon A Mattress - that's the title of my autobiography.

And of course there is the story - possibly apocryphal that a local reporter asked a woman who was turning 110 years old:

"Have you ever been bedridden?"

And she replied:

"Oh yes.  And twice in a buggy."

[Jrand74]

Rehearsal vibes for MR BK & Co.

[Jrand74]

I haven't received my book yet.

[ChasSmith]

I haven't received my book yet.

Oh no. This doesn't bode well for those of us on the right coast.

[elmore3003]

Does that mean they're re-orchestrating it again?

Or they're using Coughlin's work from the Sarah Jessica Parker revival.

[John G.]

Does that mean they're re-orchestrating it again?

Or they're using Coughlin's work from the Sarah Jessica Parker revival.

In other words, a reduction, right?

[John G.]

Went to the market and got in line behind a German family who bought everything in the store. I finally got my water and that was that.

[elmore3003]

This is the last of several shows I've lost to Bruce Coughlin:
1. ON THE TOWN, Central Park - I was booke when Charlie Harmon asked me to do it and I recommended Coughlin;
2. THE TRIUMPH OF LOVE - when the show was announced, the composer wanted me; the producer and lyric writer wanted another from JELLY'S LAST JAM; the producer told the composer about me "we don;t want that tiny Goodspeed sound"; by the time it got tp Broadway, Coughlin was doing it with a tiny Goodspeed band;
3. CANDIDE (National Theatre of Great Britain) - Charlie Harmon asked me to do it and I accepted; Charlie sent my resume to England anbd told me we would finish the paperwork when he returned from vacation; when he returned a month later, he told me Harry Kraut had hired Coughlion behind his back and I was out;l
4. ANNIE GET YOUR GUN - Tony Walton recommended me, and I had two long phone calls with their music director who assured me he would recommend me; when I saw Coughglin was doing it, I call the SOB MD who said Coughlion was "an old buddy"; Ted Chapin told me my name never came up;
5. URINETOWN - I ran into Danny Marcus, who was cast, and he told me they didn't have an orchestrator so I called their music director Eddie Strauss, who told me Coughlin was doing it.

Jesus H,. Christ!

In 2001, when John McGlinn brought that Kern-Herbert project to me, I grabbed it, just to get out of the two-faced Broadway scene

[ChasSmith]

OMG.  What a history.

[ChasSmith]

My friend who had been planning to direct Mattress up here in Nov.-Dec. saw the Encores! production and absolutely loved the orchestra, but he just re-summarized it to me thusly:

"Charles, it was really horrible, like a really really bad sitcom. They stripped it of all its charm."

[ChasSmith]

DR Elmore, I haven't even listened to the entire SJP recording, but I didn't like what I heard. It kind of represented everything I dread about revivals.