Bret Barrett's GF looks like Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio.....and I'll bet Bearse and Bernhard were more than "roommates"

Barrett has a pretty big Broadway career (and is the best Billy I've seen in Chicago).

Really? I had no idea.

Better than Naughton (who by vocals alone I thought was better than Orbach, no disrepect intended)? I've only seen Chicago once (Hinton Battle as Billy) but now I'm running through my head all the stunt casting I remember from the commercials, like Robert Urich (R.I.P.), Wayne Brady, Usher (!?)...

Too bad SL couldn't handle all that choreography because she'd make for a very interesting Roxie or Velma.

LOL, not quite. I know SL's kids were little in '84 for her to be chillin' at the Studio even for a going away party. But fact or fiction, I have *read* things in the past about Opal stealing some of Erica's spotlight and SL being a little miffed about DL winning the Emmy (twice!). Getting courted by primetime, Carol Burnett no less, may have had folks a little green-eyed too. Who knows... I do think it's pretty much accepted as fact that SL pounded the table and left out crying the year RS won (RS even mentioned this on her hotline the day after SL finally took home the gold).

I never knew any of that. I actually never knew anyone ever pounded a table in real life. I always thought that was a dramatic license thing.

I do wonder what might have happened if Dorothy had stayed around.

It's interesting though, these ladies who came into ABC Daytime and unexpectedly became huge players, then left for greener pastures, like Dorothy, and Judith Light. You really would have to wonder what reactions they received from the old guard.

Really? I had no idea.

Better than Naughton (who by vocals alone I thought was better than Orbach, no disrepect intended)? I've only seen Chicago once (Hinton Battle as Billy) but now I'm running through my head all the stunt casting I remember from the commercials, like Robert Urich (R.I.P.), Wayne Brady, Usher (!?)...

Too bad SL couldn't handle all that choreography because she'd make for a very interesting Roxie or Velma.

I've only seen it once live too (I kinda hate the movie) back on the first tour and was pleasantly surprised to see him in the program--Charlotte D'Amboise was Roxie and both were fantastic. Both are now regulars in the Broadway cast. But yeah the show is the king of stunt casting--in fact when I saw the tour I was worried we were gonna get Alan Thicke as Billy but he was in the *other* tour.

Brent in Grand Hotel (he took over when the original lead died of HIV related causes), and Chicago (the Chicago is about 15 years later...)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDc9ul70kyY

(and Naughton is awful on CD and the performances I've seen, but I do have a soft spot for Orbach...)

Edited April 10, 201114 yr by EricMontreal22

Oh and Barrett is gay.

Well that's random (just kidding)

Thanks for showing all this. It's tough for me to ever picture Jerry Orbach in things beyond Dirty Dancing and L&O.

Edited April 10, 201114 yr by CarlD2

LOL Orbach is a fave of mine--and I always forget he was in either of those roles. He was never a great singer but just had a great stage presence.

(The original Fosse choreography!)

I never knew any of that. I actually never knew anyone ever pounded a table in real life. I always thought that was a dramatic license thing.

Carl, there's a Facebook "like" called, "When I write LOL I don't even be laughin'" but I literally LOL'd at that. I had read that in a few articles on the subject of her Emmy losses but it wasn't until I called the Hotline that Saturday morning after I'd been to the Emmys that I learned it was Robin who had won.

I watched Dorothy as Opal as a little kid and I remember when she popped up on Mama's Family, but I did not watch OLTL as a small kid and only knew Judith from Who's The Boss? I feel like HBS could have made a similar transition had the timing been right. Something Wilder didn't work out, but I think HBS is just as great as Patricia (Heaton or Richardson? I'm talking about the one from Raymond, but now that I mention it, both!)...

Edited April 10, 201114 yr by SFK

Wait, isn't that Michael Jeter in that clip? He died of AIDS-related illness too, is that who you were talking about or sadly yet another person?

See, I like Naughton on the CD, he has a smarmy Roger Thorpe thing (btw, I think Ron Raines played Billy too). I see a flash of Bebe Neuwirth in that clip. I met her one night at a party but I'll save that embarrassing story for the book.

I'm not a fan of musicals, but the dark sexy Fosse ones are my favorite. I liked Fosse and I liked the movie of Cabaret. I saw it on stage with Teri Hatcher, and well...

I think HBS may have stayed in soaps because of her kids - she did come very close to sort of breaking through after she left ATWT. She does remind me of Patricia Richardson, wherever Richardson is now.

Sometimes I forget Susan is only human, and of course would be upset about losing Emmys, especially relatively early on before she got used to it. The image of her pounding a table does make me I imagine her going "Ow!"

Sadly another person-- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Carroll_(actor) Much missed Broadway talent...

Bebe started in the chorus--Anne Reinking is there too. I think musicals get a bad rep--(obviously I feel that way ) I don't think there's been anything better in the American theatre of the past forty years than the musicals of Sondheim, Fosse and Michael Bennett. Mature, brilliantly viscerally staged pieces of art (I wish many of the Sondheim/Hal Prince/Michael Bennett shows were forced to remain in their original state--the clips I've seen of the current concert with Neil Patrick Harris of Company--my all time fave musical-- are pretty poor)

Edited April 10, 201114 yr by EricMontreal22

Lord, I wish "Chicago" would close if they haven't already. Otherwise, I'm gonna look up one day and find Rebecca Black is stepping in as Roxie Hart.

Meh it's still better than the watered down movie (why do Chicago without the Fosse dance vocabulary?) I can't fault a show that keeps so many Broadway gypsies emplyed for so long.

I cannot stand NPH which is a shame really because he was one of the few non-annoying child actors. I've been watching How I Met Your Mother in syndication, and he really gets on my nerves. As does Allyson Hannigan. See, this is what I get for giving new shows a try.

You mentioned Michael Bennet, if I could go back in time and see any Broadway musical it would be opening night of Dreamgirls.