He set the ‘Hamilton’ stage Gore’s no bore
DISNEY+, which paid $75 mil for worldwide rights, will stream Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “Hamilton” July 3. Every actor is from Broadway’s original cast. Each would have performed on 2015’s opening night.
David Korins, who designed the theater’s set, which was configured to accommodate 51 numbers, told me: “It had taken four months to build and cost $800,000.”
And the screen version, which he’s seen? “It’s a live capture from the stage. An actual filmed version of the stage production. Beautifully shot. Real close-ups, not filmed from 70 feet away, look a little different on camera. You can see the actual buttons and fabric. And the dark comes off darker.”
Before evil descended on the globe, Korins was prepping scenery for the Sondheim Theatre opening of the comedy “Mrs. Doubtfire,” an adaptation of the ’93 film, which earned $440 million worldwide and won Robin Williams, playing a British nanny, a Golden Globe.
“Our stuff ’s sitting abandoned like a ghost town. Stagehands cleared it out. I’m home with my computers. I go into my studio periodically to water the plants. It’s eerie. Everything’s untouched. We were in previews. No advance ticket sales because there hadn’t yet been an audience reaction. Everyone thought we’re gone a month. Nobody thought it’s a year. We hope it’s coming back but who knows — it’s a huge financial effort.
“And Broadway’s future eventually? Backstage crews wearing masks? Patrons subject to thermometers? People jammed together? What determines safety?”
I’VE mentioned the possibility Gulliver Biden could get a hiccup, cough or maybe inability to continue his snail run. Listing names who’d step in — or up, I neglected Al Gore. Shouldn’t/ wouldn’t those gem Dems consider him a possibility?
Show respect
MEMORIAL weekend. An American holiday. Let’s speak for an American who served as a 33year combat veteran. Gen. Michael Flynn. Former high-school lifeguard. Former Defense Intelligence
Agency director. A patriot. With a sense of duty. I’ve never met him, but I respect him. And America is trying to destroy him? What is happening to us?
Get the dirt here
THIS weekend it’s migration to the Hamptons. And city pilgrims become instant gardeners who wouldn’t know mulch if they stepped in it. I, who won’t go further east than Park Avenue, will educate you: Mulch comes in three colors — red, black, brown.
Something to match every cashmere. Key fertilizers — plant tone and holly tone, which boxwoods and evergreens love — smell like Crapola No. 5. Like what’s seeping out of Washington. Like on a windy day the aroma of Wuhan. To change hydrangeas color? Holly tone, which has acid, to match the NYC attitude. Lawns have different fertilizers.
For roses, rose tone. For flowers and veggies, you add soil springtime and late fall. Easy on weedkillers. It’s illegal in the Hamptons where heroin and cocaine are mostly OK. No need to thank me. I, Madam Adams, live to serve.
HAVE a good, safe healthy Memorial Weekend. I’ll see you again Tuesday. Meanwhile, remember another hero Gen. MacArthur, who said “I shall return.” With today’s CV he’d add, “with milk, a roast chicken and toilet paper.”
Only in New York, kids, only in New York.