Thanks for sharing the review, Lein! It sounds like you had a really good time. What I would give to be in your shoes.

In other news, I was listening to some opera, as I'm wont to do when I get bored, when I found a rather interesting similarity:

This is the opening song of Rebecca. We practically all know the tune that the title 'Ich hab getraumt von Manderley' is set to. Listen to that, and then listen to the big finish:



This is one of the best songs in the score of Puccini's opera Tosca, called 'Recondita Armonia'. Listen at 3:00 onwards:



Does anyone else hear the similarity? Could the denizens of the Puccini estate, who were so keen to sue Andrew Lloyd Webber over his extensive musical quotation of Fanciulla del Golden West in Phantom, litigate over this when it's worth it?

The Broadway Cast is looking pretty sweet. I'm surprised James Barbour isn't playing Maxim as he is Thomas Borchert's American Counterpart. But Phantom Understudy from LND Tam Mutu is fantastic and I'm excited to see him in his broadway debut.

http://www.broadway.com/shows/rebecca/b ... -broadway/

Isn't Mutu a tad young for Maxim? Oh well, if he's got the talent...but I do agree on Barbour getting Favell and not Maxim being a little odd.

I'm very interetsed to Mason as Danvers though The only thing I've seen that she'sbeen in is Hairspray, and playing Velma von Tussle is...well, it's not Danvers, so I have no clue what to expect from her.

I'm excited for this cast, though I'm a bit broken up that they didn't get Carolee Carmello for Danvers. Nonetheless, Tam Mutu has such an awesome voice, and I'm extremely pumped for Sierra Boggess' Ich.

I think it's cool to see James Barbour in a supporting role Or any role at all for that matter, considering the nasty turns his career has had lately.

How old IS Mutu? He looks young, but then, Uwe was the right age and he still looked to young for Maxim too...

I'm just bummed that Pia didn't get in on the action. Originating a role would be so much better then just being on in a long line of Velmas in Chicago.

Considering the more traditional style of the show, doing you think Rebecca will do well over here?

Oh, I found St. Gallent footage:



I'm actually quite interetsed in Maya's Danvers. You guys were rght, she's waaay more expressive than Rigvava-Dumas, though Dumas has arguably the stronger voice, and Maya certainly gives it her all, and I ratehr like her use of her head voice over a lower belt.

Maya's not so strong voice really suits her Mrs. Danvers. She is not as strong as Susan was in that part (although I only saw Susan on bootlegs, so maybe it's not a fair comparison). With Susan, I only thought Mrs. Danvers evil and bad, with Maya, I felt really sorry for her, and I could at least understand what made her do everything she does. It took me half a song to get used to her way of singing the part, and then I was hooked.
(and the fact that during Mrs. de Winter bin ich with Susan/Wietske, I usually think "Go Wietske!" and with Lisa/Maya, I could only think "Please Lisa... don't do that to Maya!!" says a lot, I think... (Maya's cry "Nein!!!" got the tears in my eyes).

I wouldn't call Tale of Two Cities a nasty turn. Rather, Sydney Carton is his best role to date.

Tale of Two Cities ran for 60 performances, not including previews. I'm not sure people want that kind of brevity associated with their big-budget musical...

It closed because it had the most expensive cast on broadway during the beginning of the recession. Critics actually liked it. Barbour got a drama desk nom for it. If it didn't close early he probably would've got a tony nom as well.

If I recall, most of the reviews were pretty ambivolent at best. But that hardly matters; people have a sad habit of not taking the quality of a show into consideration when it closes so prematurely.

At least we got a recording and DVD of his performance.

Quite true.