PARIS: Hey, I was trying to give the kid some human contact. He’s been talking to nothing but a cow for a year and a half. BRAD: There was a person inside that cow, I’ve told you that!
The role of Milky White the cow in the 2002 Broadway production of Into the Woods was played by actor and singer Chad Kimball [pictured], who was also the understudy for Adam Wylie’s role of Jack. He has been in a few other Broadway shows, and several regional theatre productions.
Paris says Brad was in Into the Woods for a year and a half, but it was only about a year – perhaps she is counting rehearsal periods. However, Brad seems to have been missing from Chilton for around eleven months.
BRAD: Look, I’m proud of my part, okay? The New York Times called me winningly naïve.
This is apparently a real line from a review of Adam Wylie’s performance inThe New York Times, although I have been unable to find the original article.
PARIS: [sits down next to Brad; sings] I’ve got my beans at Grandma’s house, my magic beans at Grandma’s house … I’ll take my beans, my magic beans, who’s got the beans, we need some beans, I love the beans … Into the woods at Grandma’s house.
Paris sings a slight parody version of the “Prologue” to Into the Woods, previously mentioned. Although there is a refrain line of Into the woods at Grandma’s house, it doesn’t mention magic beans quite so often as Paris makes out. Nor are any of those few mentions sung by Jack.
PARIS: I’m only saying it won’t be a totally satisfying victory just beating Jerome Robbins and the rest of the losers here. I’d really like to take you down also. BRAD: Boy, she is really up on her theater references.
Jerome Robbins, born Jerome Rabinowitz (1918-1998), dancer, choreographer, film director, theatre director and producer who worked in classical ballet, on stage, film, and television. Among his numerous stage productions were West Side Story,Gypsy, and Fiddler on the Roof. Robbins was a five-time Tony Award-winner and a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors. He received two Academy Awards, including the 1961 Academy Award for Best Director with Robert Wise for West Side Story, and a special Academy Honorary Award for his choreographic achievements on film.
BRAD: Paris, this time on stage has been a very growing experience for me. I’m no longer intimidated by you or people like you. PARIS: I’m thrilled to hear it, Chita Rivera. Move.
Chita Rivera (born Dolores del Rivero Anderson in 1933), actress, singer and dancer best known for originating roles in Broadway musicals including Anita in West Side Story, Velma Kelly in Chicago, and the title role in Kiss of the Spider Woman. She has won three Tony Awards, including one for Lifetime Achievement. She is the first Latina and the first Latino American to receive a Kennedy Center Honor, and is a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
MADELINE: What about your costumes, ’cause that seems great. LOUISE: Ooh, unless you’re doing Les Mis. MADELINE: Or Cats. LOUISE: Furry spandex with a tail and jazz shoes?
Les Misérables, colloquially known as Les Mis, musical and adaptation of Victor Hugo’s 1862 novel of the same name, by Claude-Michel Schönberg (music), Alain Boublil, Jean-Marc Natel (original French lyrics) and Herbert Kretzmer (English lyrics). The original French musical premiered in Paris in 1980; its English-language adaptation has been running in London since 1985, making it the longest-running musical in the West End. It ran on Broadway from 1987 until 2003 – it had been due to close in March 2003, but a surge of interest postponed its closure until May.
Cats, musical composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based upon the 1939 poetry collection Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot. Cats opened to positive reviews in the West End in 1981 and to mixed reviews on Broadway in 1982. It won numerous awards including Best Musical at both the Laurence Olivier and Tony Awards. Despite its unusual subject matter, the musical turned out to be an unprecedented commercial success. The London production ran for 21 years, closing in 2002, while the Broadway production ran for 18 years, closing in 2000.
Louise and Madeline probably don’t think the costumes for these productions would be great to keep, because in LesMisérables, the costumes are mostly the rags of convicts and peasants, while in Cats, they are cat costumes.
RORY: Hey Brad, good to have you back. How was Broadway? BRAD: It was great, but Nathan Lane is a very bitter man.
Nathan Lane (born Joseph Lane in 1956), actor. In a career spanning over 40 years he has been seen on stage and screen in roles both comedic and dramatic. Lane has received numerous awards including three Tony Awards, an Olivier Award, three Emmy Awards, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. Lane received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2006 and was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2008.
I’m not sure how Brad would have met Nathan Lane in 2002, as he wasn’t doing Broadway that year – three of his films were released that year, and he was in an episode of Sex and the City. Maybe he heard a lot of theatre gossip.
BRAD: Thank you. It’s good to be back. PARIS: Sit down, Mary Martin.
Mary Martin (1913-1990), actress and singer. A muse of Rodgers and Hammerstein, she originated many leading roles on stage over her career, including Nellie Forbush in South Pacific (1949), the title character in Peter Pan (1954), and Maria von Trapp in The Sound of Music (1959). She was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame in 1973, and named a Kennedy Center Honoree in 1989. She was the mother of actor Larry Hagman.
TEACHER: Oh, I almost forgot to welcome back Brad Langford. He returns to us fresh from Broadway where he’s just completed a successful run of Into the Woods. Welcome back, Brad.
Into the Woods, 1987 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. The musical intertwines the plots of several Brothers Grimm fairy tales, exploring the consequences of the characters’ wishes and quests. It won three Tony Awards, and has been produced many times since.
There was a revival of the musical in Los Angeles in February and March 2002, with the same cast that later ran on Broadway. The 2002 Broadway revival began previews on April 13, 2002 and opened April 30, 2002 at the Broadhurst Theatre, closing on December 29 after a run of 18 previews and 279 regular performances.
Adam Wylie, who plays Brad Langford, really was in the cast of Into the Woods, performing the role of Jack. This doesn’t quite fit into the timeline of the show, because Brad last returned to Chilton after a school transfer in late April 2002 – when he would have already been in Los Angeles for two months, and the musical’s main run was just about to begin.
However, it does explain why we haven’t seen him since then. Apparently he wasn’t frightened off by Paris after all – he was having a successful acting career. He has really come along since his first appearance on Gilmore Girls, when he said he couldn’t act in a school play because he got so nervous he threw up. Quite a transformation.
I’m not sure how Brad can take a year off school to do Broadway, and then simply come back to his senior class like nothing happened. Perhaps there was a private tutor attached to the Broadway production??? Also, Into the Woods finished at the end of January and it’s now the end of March – what was he doing for the past two months?
LANE: It’s getting frustrating. I mean, there’s so many great songs that have been written post-Cobain, but try and convince Zach of that. I mean, he’s impossible, stubborn, and just a tad intellectually challenged, in case you haven’t noticed.
Rock star Kurt Cobain, previously discussed. Kurt Cobain died in 1994, so Zach apparently isn’t interested in any music after that date. Lane complains about Zach being stubborn and stupid; later she marries him.
The Annotated Gilmore Girls 