War Paint

[handiacefailure]

Anyone else seen this yet?

 

I saw it prebroadway in Chicago in August and it was so popular it was extended twice and most shows were sold out.

 

I'm in NYC in two weeks and looking forward to seeing it again. I've seen Patti perform live at least ten times and it was my first time seeing Christine live. One of the best shows I have seen in a long time and I hope they release a cast recording of it soon, music was good.

[actor61]

Anyone else seen this yet?

 

I saw it prebroadway in Chicago in August and it was so popular it was extended twice and most shows were sold out.

 

I'm in NYC in two weeks and looking forward to seeing it again. I've seen Patti perform live at least ten times and it was my first time seeing Christine live. One of the best shows I have seen in a long time and I hope they release a cast recording of it soon, music was good.

I saw it at the Goodman in Chicago as well. Bad show. Good music. Great performances.

[Cooper]

Saw "War Paint" on Broadway. I have mixed feelings. Patti Lupone as Helena Rubinstein and Christine Ebersole as Elizabeth Arden were outstanding. Very believable in their roles. Both have amazing & powerful voices, however, as good as they were, I found the production dull and not entertaining. The numerous costume changes and very large jewelry of Rubinstein were quite noticeable. It had a happy ending but as I was leaving the theatre, I overheard someone say that the two never met. You'll learn a lot about these 2 very competitive and wealthy women who were pioneers in the cosmetic industry. They were the 1st women to have companies named after them. Successful in business but failures in love.

 

The draw here is the extremely talented team of Lupone and Ebersole. The show I saw had a full house.

[Gvtire]

I read the book years ago. Wonder how close the play is to the book.

[Cooper]

Patti Lupone and Christina Ebersole in WAR PAINT.... Amazing costumes and jewelry.

 

http://static.playbill.com/dims4/default/a3e8e83/2147483647/crop/3018x1699%2B0%2B547/resize/970x546/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fstatic.playbill.com%2F61%2F43%2F01470d69408c96939f6e3ec03d1a%2Fpatti-lupone-and-christine-ebersole-in-war-paint-photo-by-joan-marcus-2.jpg

[handiacefailure]

I saw it Saturday on broadway for the second time (first time was August in Chicago prebroadwaying). Same songs but changed a few lines. There was a line in Chicago about Elizabeth taylor that was funny that they omitted and there was a line about Bullies they added (but it was directed at the Trump administration and in August we had no idea he would be in charge)

[foxy]

War Paint is one of those shows you just have to see for the two powerful actresses Patti Lupone and Christine Ebersole. Who better to portray two immigrants who became two of the richest and most powerful women of their time?

[edjames]

‘War Paint’ to Close on Broadway in December

• 
  Patti LuPone, left, and Christine Ebersole in “War Paint.” CreditSara Krulwich/The New York Times
  “War Paint,” a double-barreled musical starring Patti LuPone and Christine Ebersole, will close on Broadway on Dec. 30 after 300 performances.
   
  The musical depicts the rivalry between two cosmetics entrepreneurs — Helena Rubinstein (Ms. LuPone) and Elizabeth Arden (Ms. Ebersole) — who built competing beauty empires over half a century. Based on a 2004 dual biography by Lindy Woodhead, the show opened in Chicago in 2016and transferred to Broadway’s Nederlander Theater in April.
   
  In his review for the Times, Ben Brantley saved his praise for the two lead actresses, writing, “They’re strategically deploying the knowledge and craft of a combined eight decades in musicals to make us believe that the show in which they appear is moving forward, instead of running in place in high heels.”
   
  “War Paint” was nominated for four Tony Awards, with Ms. LuPone and Ms. Ebersole receiving nominations for best actress in a leading role in a musical.
   
  A representative said the show has not recouped its capitalization of $11 million.
   
  

[+ WilliamM]

http://www.playbill.com/article/which-performers-surprised-audiences-by-dueting-with-patti-lupone-in-deconstructing-patti

 

Has anyone ever seen one of Seth's reconstructions in person?

 

Would have loved to have seen Seth and Patti LuPone the other night.

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

http://www.playbill.com/article/which-performers-surprised-audiences-by-dueting-with-patti-lupone-in-deconstructing-patti

 

Has anyone ever seen one of Seth's reconstructions in person?

 

Would have loved to have seen Seth and Patti LuPone the other night.

 

I saw Seth do one with Patti in London. It was entertaining, but I would have liked to see more of LuPone and less of Seth.

 

I also really dislike his piano playing: He always plays like he's reading from a fake book. It's annoying to hear him pound out a song.

[+ WilliamM]

I saw Seth do one with Patti in London. It was entertaining, but I would have liked to see more of LuPone and less of Seth.

 

Exactly my experience as well when I see one of Seth's videos.

[handiacefailure]

I loved seth's show when I had Sirius. His Saturday show with Christine Peti was very entertaining.

[+ WilliamM]

I loved seth's show when I had Sirius. His Saturday show with Christine Peti was very entertaining.

 

I enjoy his shows if I have not seen the person discussed perform in person.

 

But, his individual shows on Garland and also Streisand are really bad.

[actor61]

I loved seth's show when I had Sirius. His Saturday show with Christine Peti was very entertaining.

Do you mean "

I loved seth's show when I had Sirius. His Saturday show with Christine Peti was very entertaining.

Do you mean "Seth. I'm obsessed." ? I can't listen to him for more than 30 seconds.

[bostonman]

I saw Seth do one with Patti in London. It was entertaining, but I would have liked to see more of LuPone and less of Seth.

 

I also really dislike his piano playing: He always plays like he's reading from a fake book. It's annoying to hear him pound out a song.

 

In spite of the fact that Seth is a very talented man, I agree with you. He's become a caricature of himself, and his performing style is needlessly narcissistic.

[bostonman]

I loved seth's show when I had Sirius. His Saturday show with Christine Peti was very entertaining.

 

Pedi, not Peti. And she is one amazing (NOT aMAHzing, thank you) performer.

[handiacefailure]

I still haven't had a chance to see Seth perform live. I was looking forward to seeing him in Disaster last year (I love Kerry Butler) but it closed early:(

 

I think it would be funny to see him and organist Cameron Carpenter together doing an interview. Cameron is the most talented organist I have ever seen perform (you have to like that style and his style is definitely unique) but he is more obnoxious than Seth.

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

I still haven't had a chance to see Seth perform live. I was looking forward to seeing him in Disaster last year (I love Kerry Butler) but it closed early:(

 

Disaster was, well, a disaster.

 

In the words of Max Bialystock, This show needs to close on... Page four.

[edjames]

Deconstructing Patti with Seth Rudestky was a very enjoyable evening. I was in the orchestra on Sunday evening along with a full house of Patti's fans.

It's an interesting and entertaining premise. Not quite a concert, and a true homage to Patti's career in musical theater. Seth interviews Patti and concentrates mainly on her career and the events that led up to appearing in many productions. As they progress through Patti's career, song choices included selections from Les Miz, Evita, Sunset Boulevard, Anything Goes, etc. Guest stars, including Raul Esparza, Howard Gilliam, and Christine Ebersole all made appearance to sing along with Patti. Alas, Patti was limping visibly and announced she needs knee replacement surgery.

Many were disappointed when Patti announced a few months ago that War Paint would be her last musical, however she announced Sunday night that she will be doing the new gender-bending (Bobby will be female (Bobbi)!) London production of Company directed by Marianne Elliot in the role of Joanne. Patti appeared as Joanne in the Lincoln Center production with Neil Patrick harris in 2011.

 

Patti LuPone's in good company as she returns to London after 20 years: Broadway star tells BAZ BAMIGBOYE she’s returning to Britain to move away from the 's***storm' in the US

By Baz Bamigboye for the Daily Mail

 

PUBLISHED: 20:12 EDT, 21 September 2017 | UPDATED: 20:22 EDT, 21 September 2017

 

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/09/22/01/4447B8AE00000578-4908060-image-a-42_1506038700762.jpg

 

 

Patti LuPone, the Tony-award winning Broadway star, will return to the London stage for the first time in more than 20 years

 

Patti LuPone, the Tony-award winning Broadway star, will return to the London stage for the first time in more than 20 years to join the gender-bending version of Stephen Sondheim’s musical Company.

 

Her casting as the acerbic Joanne, who downs Vodka Stingers and sings the famous number The Ladies Who Lunch, is a major coup for Elliott & Harper Productions, the theatre company recently formed by acclaimed director Marianne Elliott and former National Theatre producer Chris Harper.

 

The last time Ms LuPone appeared on a West End stage was 1993, when she originated Norma Desmond in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard at the Adelphi Theatre.

 

LuPone later felt blindsided when Lloyd Webber cast Glenn Close, instead of her, in the Broadway production.

 

The fallout from that clash was good for the Broadway legend in one respect, though: she used the settlement proceeds to build a swimming pool at her country retreat.

 

Ms LuPone told me in New York that Ms Elliott sent her a video of a workshop of Company, featuring Rosalie Craig as Bobbi, a 35-year-old, commitment-shy singleton whose body clock is ticking. (Tick-Tock, an orchestral number which is often cut, will be re-introduced, and choreographed to hint that time is running out for her to start a family.)

 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-4908060/Patti-LuPone-returning-UK-away-s-storm.html#ixzz4u1Baxnw6

[Good Grief]

Her casting as the acerbic Joanne, who downs Vodka Stingers and sings the famous number The Ladies Who Lunch

 

Patti at Sondheim's 80th Celebration singing THAT number with HER sitting aside.

 

Doe's anyone still wear a hat?

 

 

 

 

Sorry if I'm hijacking.

[bostonman]

(Tick-Tock, an orchestral number which is often cut, will be re-introduced, and choreographed to hint that time is running out for her to start a family.)

 

Technically, it's no more an "orchestral" number than anything else in the show. It's a dance number (originally danced by Donna McKechnie, before she became rightfully famous for her Cassie in A Chorus Line - both choreographed by Michael Bennett). It does feature vocals (originally sung by 4 women in the pit, nowadays usually sung by the other women in the cast, as that "Vocal Minority" pit quartet wasn't included in later versions of the score) and also voice-overs (often pre-recorded) by Bobby, April, and the married characters.

 

The number itself is meant to further Bobby's conflict with committment (he's the only one who can't manage to get the words "I love you" out, even in response to April, during sex), and the original concept for the solo dance was "the differences between making love and having sex" - but it's always presented a bit of a conundrum, IMO. If the whole Bobby/April scene is, at this point, a first date/one-night stand (and there are things in the text that seem to point to that idea, including that he can't remember her name), I'm not sure that Bobby's inability to say "I love you" is as monumental as it seems - the overlapping voices of the married couples saying it to each other have resonance, but when April says "I love you" to Bobby (twice), is this realistic, or just passionate "one night stand" pillow talk? Even though the scene can be moving and can seem very important in terms of how we see Bobby's journey non-linear as it is), I've always wondered if it really says what the writers meant it to say.

 

In any case, in similar terms, I would be interested to see how this translates into "time is running out for Bobbi to start a family." Unless it's made very clear that this is very far from a first date/one-nighter situation. (Though it might still be their first sex together.) But I would have a tough time buying the fact that Bobbi (or the male Bobby) wouldn't be able to remember April's name if they have been seeing each other for a while. Or, that he wouldn't already be aware of April's schedule (that she has to be up way early to get on a flight to Barcelona).

 

The music for "Tick Tock," by the way, was created by David Shire (Starting Here Starting Now, Baby, Closer Than Ever), called in especially to rework the whole musical sequence, while he was on his honeymoon. The arrangement of course uses fragments of Sondheim's tunes (most dance arrangements in musicals borrow effectively from the show's source material), particularly parts of "Poor Baby," "Company," and "Someone Is Waiting."

 

Anyway...back to LuPone...