Rosie O’Donnell has indeed brought Broadway back to daytime. Last week on The View, she interviewed Georgia Engel and unleashed Tony-winners Bob Martin (who should win awards as the most endearing man in a sweater ever on Broadway) and Beth Leavel, who sang a belt-’til-they-applaud version of “Stumble Along,” her ode to drunkenness as life’s aspiration.
We can expect to see more Broadway bits as the season progresses. Could the Chorus Line kids be far behind? A tip of the Bob Fosse bowler hat to Regis & Kelly for allowing Broadway troupers to grace their soundstage as well.
In another daytime Broadway vein, Megan Mullally, the Emmy-winning star of Will & Grace and a Broadway veteran (the Matthew Broderick revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying), opened her brand-new talk show with — get this — a production number. She used songs from Hair outfitted with new lyrics and a motley back-up crew to separate herself from other talkers like Martha Stewart, Rachel Ray and Ellen DeGeneres. Mullally’s the only one who’ll be singing on her show. It’s a good distinction to have because, so far, her skills as a talk-show host are minimal at best. I hate to say it, but we miss Karen Walker.
Now the question is: If Broadway’s back in daytime, will Broadway’s boom just get boomier?
I give it one season….
The interesting thing about Megan Mullally and Sean Hayes (Jack) is that they are fine and funny actors but not particularly engaging as themselves. This is ok as far as I’m concerned but unfortunately they’re not interesting as guests or hosts on talk-shows. Why is that?
Poor Megan is really a poor host. She follows up every answer with, “That’s great,” or “Fantastic.” It’s not good. I gave up after the first week.
The problem with real-life Megan as opposed to larger-than-life character Karen Walker is that real-life Megan doesn’t have a script, and though she’s clearly a bright woman, she doesn’t have a whole lot of sass or spark.
That’s what I love about Rosie. She’s a character. She wears her passions on her sleeve, on her shoulder, on her lap, on her shoes…you name it. She recently devoted an entire show to Broadway: Martin Short doing a “Fame Becomes Me” number and Donny Osmond, who’s playing Gaston in “Beauty and the Beast.” Gotta love a woman who loves Broadway so darn much.