Pal Joey Revival Starring Christian Hoff Postponed
July 30th, 2007Playbill.com reports that although a revival of Pal Joey had not been officially announced, Variety recently reported that Christian Hoff, who won a Tony Award for his work as Tommy DeVito in Jersey Boys, would likely star in a Broadway revival of the Rodgers and Hart musical in spring 2008.
The revival, which would have featured a revised book by Richard Greenberg and direction by Joe Mantello, was to be produced by Marc Platt. The July 31 New York Times reports that the revival has been postponed. Producer Platt told the paper, “This spring the timing is just not right, but hopefully it will happen as soon as it can.” Platt added that the postponement was for personal and professional, not financial, reasons. He also said that Mantello and Hoff are still attached to a future production.
The cliche tells us that “everything happens for a reason.” Selfishly, perhaps we all have more time to enjoy Christian’s huge talent and his generosity and availability to his fans.
As I’ve been purchasing tickets for early 2008, I’ve had to tell friends that they probably won’t be seeing Christian, always to their disappointment. While we still don’t know if he’ll go for another stint as Tommy or choose to move on, we 2008 ticket holders now have a shot at still seeing two Tony winners together in their original roles for a third year!!
Comment by Howard Tucker — July 31, 2007 @ 5:25 am
Howard,
I just added this as a new bulletin board topic. Maybe we can have some discussion about this. IE
Comment by irene eizen — July 31, 2007 @ 9:35 am
I dunno, just because he’s now not doing Pal Joey doesn’t necessarily also mean he’ll stick with Jersey Boys.
Comment by Leanna — July 31, 2007 @ 12:51 pm
I second Howrd’s comment. Hopefully all four Jersey Boys will decide to extend their contract again, and we can continue to enjoy seeing them perform in the show everytime we go!
Comment by Beverley Micciche — July 31, 2007 @ 4:35 pm
Howard, do you think both Christian and JLY will stay for another run?
Comment by A — July 31, 2007 @ 5:15 pm
When Christian leaves, Jeremy Kushnier from the Second National Tour cast should replace him.
End of story.
Comment by Mark Brown — July 31, 2007 @ 7:24 pm
Wish I had a crystal ball, A. I would think, while it’s not uncommon for a leading or featured actor to stay with a prized role for many years (e.g., Howard McGillin in “Phantom”, Marian Seldes in “Deathtrap”),it probably is rare for an entire original cast to be together for more than two years, and even rarer for two Tony winners to be on stage together for that length of time. Anyone have any stats on that??
Comment by Howard Tucker — July 31, 2007 @ 10:43 pm
THIS SHOW IS LIKE THE SEASONS IT IS A LIFETIME OF MEMORIES.AND WE NEVER WANT IT TO END.
Comment by jim petrecca — July 31, 2007 @ 10:49 pm
Howard,
I have not stats on that! I would hope at least one of them will stay. What do you think about the other boys, Daniel and Bobby?
Comment by A — August 1, 2007 @ 11:05 am
A, haven’t heard much about Daniel and Bobby lately. I guess we can ask Daniel at his show at Joe’s Pub on August 12—he always has a receiving line at the end of each show. I know Bobby is working to distribute the film “Farm Girl in New York”, but don’t know much else.
Think we need to have a message board posting by a Liz Smith, Cindy Adams, or Rona Barrett (gosh, I’m dating myself!) type to keep up on all the scuttlebutt!
Comment by Howard Tucker — August 1, 2007 @ 11:25 am