Silence!

Did anyone else learn today that Aida Turturro is going to play Mama in Chicago on Broadway? This means, in a matter of months, the same role will be played by Adriane Lenox, Kelly Osbourne and Aida Turturro. Think about that.

You know how I know off-Broadway is in trouble? It's not because of all the stories about the fact that it is in trouble (because I can't get through those anymore) and it's not because of the closings or the empty theaters... It's more because even people who really care about the theater have NO IDEA what is going on off-Broadway. Silence! announced an opening date and a theater--it was supposed to begin performances last week. They never said it was not starting last week, but, umm, it didn't. Money issues nixed it. And yet there were no splashy website reports of this. Apparently no one noticed. Celia, running at New World Stages, got rid of its director and, I think, it's choreographer. And, again, no one commented on it officially--no need--who cares?

Now I'm not saying people SHOULD care about this junk, but I think it shows something that even the people who really, really care about this business do not. I mean, these are people who care about ensemble changes at Wicked. Even those people aren't making a big deal about Silence! just disappearing. Which says to me no one cares. Even theater freaks don't care about off-Broadway... Why would ticket buyers?

On a completely unrelated closing note--I was at Broadway on Broadway today complaining about the lack of The Little Mermaid (scheduled to perform, but cancelled, supposedly because Sierra Boggess was too sick to perform)--which I was looking forward to seeing--and someone said to me: "Of course, Cara, with all your toys, you're the perfect Disney girl." Ummm... yeah. I really want to say here--once and for all--I'm actually not at all. I do wear shiny shoes and have many toys, but I'm not a huge Disney on Broadway supporter. I'm not anti-them by any means, but, I am not a big supporter either. A little while after I started in this business press agent Jim Byk (who I believe I'm mentioned on here before because of his mental musical theater history archive--I still think you should quiz him, if you know him and have the need) left the Richard Kornberg office to go work on Beauty and the Beast at Boneau/Bryan-Brown. I thought this was sad because a) the tiny Kornberg office has a special place in my heart and, especially, b) I thought it was sad that anyone would make a conscious choice to spend his career promoting that piece of crap. (Of course before Beauty I believe he was promoting Jekyll & Hyde, which... well, whatever, I'll leave that out of my commentary here. Let's just forget about that.) I mean, he went to go work on it. Purposely. And I really hated Beauty and the Beast. I just found it so schlocky. It ran and I'm happy when things are successful, but, I didn't get it. I mean, especially when they moved theaters and decreased cutlery size. I just... yeah. So I can't say I'm a huge Disney on Broadway supporter because I didn't like that.. or Aida... And while I said on here I got what I expected out of Tarzan, that is not saying much. Even the heavily lauded Lion King I think is all about the first 10 minutes (though I totally believe that 10 minutes is worth the price of admission as much as any show is). So, yeah, to sum up, I don't want to be known as a Disney on Broadway girl. I do want to be known as a big fan of The Little Mermaid movie, which is why I am indeed excited about the stage show, regardless of the out-of-town snarky remarks . The animated movies I own are The Little Mermaid and FernGully. Though I haven't seen FernGully in years. Maybe I'll go look for it now.