#beth leavel

[lempickathemusical]

We do not control the world  We control one flat rectangle of canvas at a time LEMPICKA (2024)

#lempicka #lempicka musical #lempicka the musical #lempicka broadway #broadway #broadwayedit #wlwedit #theatreedit #eden espinosa #amber iman #andrew samonsky #natalie joy johnson #beth leavel #george abud #ximone rose #lauren blackman #holli’ conway #khori michelle petinaud #jimin moon #kyle brown #alex aquilino #abby matsusaka #nicholas ward #stephen brower #gif

[broadwaydivastournament]

Broadway Divas Tournament: Round 1B

Bold and brassy beltress Beth Leavel (1955) burst onto the Broadway stage in 42nd Street in 1985, and has since been in eleven additional shows. She won a Tony in 2006 for her showstealing performance in The Drowsy Chaperone, and was subsequently nominated twice more. Other stage work includes The Prom (2018), Mamma Mia (2009), and Lempicka, slated to open this spring. She is a frequent solo cabaret artist, and regional actress.

Donna Murphy (1959) is a two-time Tony-winning legend of the Broadway stage, with five nominations in all, each for Best Leading Actress in a Musical. Her gripping performance as the chronically ill Fosca in Sondheim's Passion (1994) may have disgusted and disturbed audiences, but earned her immense critical acclaim. Two years later, she won her second Tony for The King and I (1996), and the year after that, earned a Daytime Emmy. She adopted a five-pound dog named Pippi Shortstocking Murphy-Elliott, and it's one of the cutest fucking things you'll ever see.

PROPAGANDA AND MEDIA UNDER CUT:

"With a voice like a foghorn to rival that of Ethel Merman, Beth Leavel is still as strong and brassy as ever. I've been to two of her cabarets, and have fallen a little in love each time. Many women (and men) have done "Before the Parade Passes By," but her version is my personal favorite."

"Beth Leavel Propaganda: Her Closing Night "The Lady's Improving" Just listen to "It's Not About Me" Bandstand: Everything Happens "As We Stumble Along" - Submitted by @puppywritesthings

"She's Donna Fucking Murphy. A certified Sondheim Lady in Red DIVA who Sondheim himself considered one of his greatest interpreters. I cannot stress enough how much I desire this woman carnally. She has spent decades of her life shamelessly dedicated to the no-bra/stiff-nipple combo, and I am appreciating it respectfully. Also, this woman is a Grade A Flirt who knows exactly what she's doing. I am in love, and have been for decades of my life. I saw 150 shows in 2023 and Donna Murphy in Dear World was at the top of the damn list. Beth Leavel, I love you, but I need Donna Murphy to sweep her section of this tournament, because if she doesn't, I will riot. "

#broadwaydivastournament #broadway divas #broadway #musical theatre #tournament poll #beth leavel #donna murphy

[lonelylittledot]

great things about Bandstand (feel free to add your own)

"it's radio, what does it matter?

Laura's high notes

"consider that an order, you screwy nutcase"

Davy's jokes

"sing because you just need to sing"

literally every second Beth Leavel is on stage

"don't. teach."

Jimmy's little glasses

"No, that’s shitty. Irksome is your use of the word irksome"

Corey's awkward little laugh

"wait... I gotta transpose"

Julia clutching Donny's jacket in This Is Life

"...what day of the week is Sunday?"

Donny's continuous disdain for Frank Sinatra

"it's a good thing you're one of the best, because putting up with you is an endurance test"

Johnny dancing with Julia

"and I'm never allowed to admit there is nothing remotely heroic about it"

all of Julia's waredrobe

"And stop picking up my clothes! If I wanted them in the drawer, I'd put them in the drawer!" (bonus: Wayne trying to hide his smile)

"dO i NoT kNoW TeLL mE tHE niGhT"

Wayne being a Donny x Julia shipper

"it's a solo, it's selfish by definiton!"

"you know, there’s a fine line between jazz and bad"

"this is life with the craziness of, the reality of, the necessity of being madly in love with you"

#bandstand #bandstand musical #corey cott #laura osnes #beth leavel #broadway #musical theatre #donny nova band #watch bandstand pls #it's so underrated

[vivitalks]

i've been a beth leavel girlie since bandstand sorry prom fans

#she slays the house down in prom #but sorry youll never be everything happens #stuff #bandstand #beth leavel #the prom musical #the prom

[ohwowthats-awesome]

Does anyone have the bootleg of Spamalot (2005) and I’m also looking for The Prom thats not the 2016 version I really want the closing night version but any one you have is great!

#broadway #the prom musical #the prom #spamalot #spamalot broadway #the prom broadway #caitlin kinnunen #izzy mccalla #beth leavel #sara ramirez #bootleg #bootlegs #the prom bootleg #spamalot bootleg #musical #musicals #broadway bootlegs #brooks ashmanskas #angie schworer #christopher sieber

[havanasroses]

don't give up on her yet.

#prom musical #prom #beth leavel #prom gifs #star's gifs #i just really miss this show so fucking much man

[droughtofapathy]

"Welcome to the Theatre": Diary of a Broadway Baby

Introducing my new theatre series where you can follow along as I trawl the theaters of New York to see all there is to see. First up:

Beth Leavel at 54 Below

January 2, 2024 | 54 Below | Evening | Cabaret | Solo Show | 1H 10M

Beth Leavel (The Drowsy Chaperone, The Prom, etc.) is a Class A riot from start to finish. Tonight, she delivered an eclectic mixture of sordid theatre stories, brassy belting, and misty-eyed ballads. She also ended the show with "Broadway, I'll see you in the spring," and...what did she mean by that? What would she even be in? She's too old for the female parts in The Who's Tommy, and the only other real option is The Heart of Rock and Roll, but the workshop cast doesn't have anyone in her age range either. And I really don't see her in Suffs. I am left with too many questions.

Edit (1/13): consider this my formal prediction for Lempicka. I was so caught up in Eden Espinosa that I forgot that musical has other people in it too.

Verdict: Why I Love the Theatre

A Note on Ratings

#broadway #beth leavel #54 below #welcome to the theatre: diary of a broadway baby #i'll admit it: beth leavel's rendition of Before the Parade Passes By from the last 54 below show i saw is my favorite out of all of them #controversial i know

[emeraldorchids]

I’ve been reading and writing Mirandy fanfiction for a decade. I had such hope—my god, I live on it—for the The Devil Wears Prada: The Musical. Beth Leavel and Elton John were promising.

I went to see it on July 27th, and the TL;DR is that it was supremely disappointing.

*spoilers below

The biggest disappointment was in Beth’s portrayal of musical!Miranda. I adore Beth and she was great—but the character should not have been named Miranda Priestly. She came across as a much older woman than Meryl’s movie!Miranda. She had red hair, and it was an orangey, dull red. It felt unstyled. She did not dress sexy at all. Her clothing was loose and almost too big for her, and her skirt suits were longer and looked a bit like a 1940s silhouette. At the Ball, she wore a black and red brocade jacquard long dress with a cape, evoking imagery of a devil. She was loud, a little crass, laughed a lot, and made a lot of exaggerated facial expressions. She seemed to lack any sense of femininity and reminded me more of a Jane Lynch character. She said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you,” to Andrea at one point. And she sang a song about who you have to screw (or maybe it was “step on”) to stay on top. It was totally and completely jarring.

Several pivotal scenes (to me, anyway) were cut. First, there’s no Book or mention of assistants delivering it to her home each night. Because of that, we miss the scene early on where Andrea interrupts a private moment between Miranda and her husband.

Second, there’s no scene with Miranda and her team at a planning meeting, so a sniffly Emily never interrupts and we don’t get the “incubus of viral plague” comment. (Instead, Emily gets dizzy because she’s doing a celery juice cleanse and that’s why Andrea has to attend the Ball. There’s also a random model who walks into Miranda’s office in a floral dress for the sole purpose of triggering the “Florals? For spring?” comment, and it was totally out of context.)

Third, the Ball itself really isn’t shown. There’s no assistants whispering names to Miranda. Andrea wears a bright yellow 1950s A-line party dress to the Ball. The assistants don’t match dresses. And most importantly, we don’t see Miranda as a sex symbol with all that décolleté on view.

Fourth, because there’s no mention of assistants being in Miranda’s home, Miranda asks Andrea to replace Emily at the Ball, and makes her tell her right away. (Emily is hit by a Prius as she’s running out of the Ball towards her Uber.)

Fifth, because it’s set in the 2020s, there’s no Harry Potter manuscript task. Instead, Miranda needs Andrea to get her and her daughter (Cassidy, who’s old enough to travel to Ibiza on her own) to Marrakesh so that YSL can fit her for a custom caftan. Andrea can’t do this because flights are grounded due to a sandstorm in the region, which sets up a “just a little dust” comment from a disappointed Miranda. Andrea’s redemption moment comes later when Miranda tells Andrea that her daughter called to thank her for surprising her and arranging for the YSL person to come to her for the fitting. Miranda tells Andrea she’s surprising.

Finally, at the end, Andrea doesn’t work for a local newspaper, but instead gets hired to write a tell-all book about her time as Miranda’s assistant. And there’s no sighting of Miranda on the street.

Nate is as much a tool in the musical as in the movie, but he’s much more self-aware in the musical. Andrea’s two friends have a realization while she’s in Paris that they shouldn’t punish her for getting to do cool things with her job; she ends up moving in with them when she returns.

The hotel scene is slightly different. Miranda takes her wedding ring off and puts it in the pocket of her robe while she’s on the phone with Cassidy, trying to get her to join her in Paris. She says something like “come on, it’s only a divorce” to her daughter on the phone, and that’s the only mention of it. Andrea walks in, Miranda silently makes a change on the seating chart and hands it back, and when Andrea sees it, she offers to find Miranda “another plus-one.” Where movie!Andrea gives her that sympathetic, heartbreaking look, musical!Andrea gives her a pep talk about how she’ll come out of this just fine because she’s a “force of nature.” (Miranda later tells Andrea that little speech gave her the idea to screw Nigel and give the Holt job to Jacqueline.) Also, in the hotel scene, Miranda asks Andrea to write her speech for the luncheon.

She’s working on the speech when Christian drags her away to his hotel room, then she goes to finish it in his room, and he tells her that Miranda’s being replaced. After the announcement, Andrea is very very pissed Miranda did that to Nigel. But Nigel doesn’t say, “she’ll pay me back”—instead, he yells at Andrea for being clueless as to how the world works.

The car scene from Paris takes place at one of the tables after the luncheon crowd has left. Miranda tells Andrea what a good writer she is, how impressed she is, and tells her to think about what career she wants next because she’s ready for it. After Miranda leaves, Andrea drops her ringing phone into a glass of water on the table and heads back to New York.

Almost all the iconic lines made it into the musical, but they didn’t evoke the same feelings for me. There’s very little Andrea/Emily interaction, although Emily calls her “Andy-for-short” throughout and I thought that was endearing.

Andrea’s makeover wasn’t that dramatic—her clothes pre-makeover were well-fitted and nice, but looked like a prep school uniform. Again, not the same effect.

Nigel was pretty good. He had some new zingers that were fun. He tells Andrea he’s got a husband when he talks about being in the closet before curating the closet, but that was the only queerness really mentioned.

Andrea and Miranda had little time together. Miranda had very few songs—I don’t count her sing-song listing of commands followed by “that’s all” to be a song. The whole point was Andrea’s story, how she came into her own career…and it was honestly boring. I’ll note that Taylor Iman Jones’s understudy performed the night I saw it, but I don’t think TIJ could have saved it.

The songs were kinda catchy, but twelve hours later, I’ve forgotten all of them. The title theme felt more like chamber music—lots of skulls and dark/red imagery, as if Miranda is a devil from hell? It was weird.

They didn’t do a good job of showing the audience who Miranda the Editor really is. I imagine people who didn’t see the movie or read the book might have been lost. Most of the audience seemed to really enjoy it. A lot of older men there with their wives thought it was hilarious. I was cringing for 95% of it.

My honest opinion: save your money; stick to fanfic.

xx

#miranda priestly #mirandy #the devil wears prada #devil wears prada #tdwp the musical #beth leavel

[popblank]

#lempicka musical #lempicka #amber iman #beth leavel #andrew samonsky #beth leavel as the baroness! #and I will honestly be disappointed if George Abud is not nominated for awards #I am not sure how it would be possible to get me more interested in this show

[lempickathemusical]

LEMPICKA (2024) Production Photos

#lempicka #lempicka the musical #lempicka musical #broadway #broadwayedit #theatre #2024 #production still #eden espinosa #amber iman #andrew samonsky #beth leavel #george abud #natalie joy johnson #*

[theatredreamcasting]

Beth Leavel as Princess Puffer (The Mystery of Edwin Drood)

#beth leavel #the mystery of edwin drood #broadway #musicals #fancast #dreamcast

[broadwaydivastournament]

Broadway Divas Tournament Bracket: Round 1B

Round 1B will commence tonight, March 9th at 6:00 p.m. EST. Send me your propaganda for any of the Divas on our list, but especially those about to make their entrance.

Round 1B: Lea Salonga vs. Christine Baranski Emily Skinner vs. Judy Kuhn Susan Blackwell vs. Harriet Harris Carmen Cusack vs. Vanessa Williams Beth Leavel vs. Donna Murphy Andrea Burns vs. Mary Beth Peil Judith Light vs. Tonya Pinkins Karen Ziemba vs. Marin Mazzie

Rules and Guidelines

Round 1A Winners

#broadwaydivastournament #broadway divas #tournament poll #masterpost #lea salonga #christine baranski #emily skinner #judy kuhn #susan blackwell #harriet harris #harriet sansom harris #carmen cusack #vanessa williams #beth leavel #donna murphy #andrea burns #mary beth peil #judith light #tonya pinkins #karen ziemba #marin mazzie

[its-not-about-me]

These first look photos of this upcoming iconic duo are just 😍😍😍✨✨✨ 

#the devil wears prada musical #beth leavel #taylor iman jones

[fybrooksashmanskas]

lol, google, no

#brooks ashmanskas #beth leavel #Heléne Yorke

[boho-days]

Rusty Riegelmann, Donna Kane, Beth Leavel, and Karen Needle in Grease, US Tour, 1988

#grease #sandy dumbrowski #betty rizzo #frenchy #jan #donna kane #beth leavel #karen needle #rusty riegelmann

[havanasroses]

fun broadway fact of the day:

beth leavel (dee dee allen, prom) and adam heller (mulligan, some like it hot) have been engaged/partners for a while now and i just find it cute how they're taking turns in casey nicholaw's shows 😭❤️

(+ adam akso starred in popcorn falls, directed by christian borle!)

#beth leavel #adam heller