BLT III - clip from 1980 WEST SIDE STORY Revival

[best12bars]

PalJoey--thanks so much for sharing your stories! I felt like I was right there with you in that tree... I wish I could have seen Ms. Allen, Hector et al.

I did get to see Debbie in the Sweet Charity revival, and she was amazing there as well. By that point, she was "Miss Fame" and la Diva, so I went to the theatre expecting a somewhat compromised performance. I was very surprised that she could nail Charity as a character. I knew the hard edge would come easy for her, but I didn't guess the vulnerability and humor would shine through. Her acting was great, and her dancing was some of the best I'd seen on Broadway up to that point (which is saying a lot). She surprised me in the "Ragtime" movie as well a few years before that, in the minor role of Sarah. Very touching.

Careers and career choices are strange things when you look back on them!

[Hanna from Hamburg]

I know, but Audra would tear it up . . . .

[melissa errico fan]

Does anybody else have the 1997 studio recording? Caroline O'Connor was insane as Anita.

[rlbgbc]

Pal,

GAWD, to have been in the room when Rivera and Allen were dancing "America" together! I hope the kids on this board realize that to see that would have been to witness musical theatre history...

Someone pass me a rag.

[PalJoey]

So many stories, but all I can remember right now is the memorial for Reed Jones at the Winter Garden. Betty Buckley, Mandy Patinkin, Debbie Gravitte, Ashford & Simpson all performed.

A Jet boy and a Shark girl danced the scherzo, which had us all weeping.

Then the Jet boys got up to do "When You're a Jet." Mark Fotopolous, who had played Tiger, one of the Jets, was too ill himself with the effects of AIDS by that time to dance, and he was going to sit the number out in the front row.

But the minute they started that unforgettable choreography, he couldn't stay seated. He jumped up at the stage and was a Jet, one last time.

[Michael Bennett]

Fascinating stories Pal Joey. It's particularly interesting to hear about the casting debates.

I've actually heard a lot of industry people complain about Sondheim's casting ideas for his own shows. I guess earlier in his career, people like Hal Prince and James Lapine were much more dominant in the casting decisions than Sondheim, but since Sondheim is so revered now, nobody will say no to him. I know a lot of people bitch about the cast of the recent FOLLIES for example, but that cast was pretty much hand picked by Sondheim himself.

[ljay889]

...And why wasn't a cast recording made for this revival??

In the Charity revival, Gwen taught Debbie a lot of moves, and I heard she really taught Debbie, Bebe, and Allison most of THERES GOTTA BE SOMETHING BETTER THAN THIS.

So I find that cool. Chita helped Debbie and the girls in WSS. and Gwen helped Debbie and the girls in CHARITY.

[Thenardier]

Debbie can do no wrong

Unless she choreographs.

[PalJoey]

One more before lunch:

At the first orchestra rehearsal in Miami Beach--at that awful Jackie Gleason theater!--the distinguished musical director John DeMain, who went on to conduct the Houston Grand Opera's Porgy and Bess, was putting the undistinguished Miami Beach orchestra through the music.

Nevertheless, it was glorious just to hear that music with a big orchestra after weeks of rehearsal with just piano.

Sitting in the back the house, squirming, was Leonard Bernstein and his usual retinue of handsome young assistants. Each time the orchestra hit a wrong note or took a wrong tempo, you could hear him sigh, louder than anyone else could ever sigh.

At one point he walked down the aisle, his jacket over his shoulders like a cape, tapped John De Main on the shoulder, whispered in his ear, and then strode back to the back of the house as John De Main explained the Maestro's instruction to the orchestra.

Things went better for a while, until they hit another snag. Again, the Maestro strode down the aisle and whispered in De Main's ear. This time, De Main made a formal bow and handed the baton over to Bernstein, who didn't even demur but stepped onto the conductor's platform.

The orchestra sat up in their seats, doing that instrument-tapping thing they do for applause, realizing they were now about to be conducted by one of the greatest musicians of the 20th century.

Bernstein then proceeded to inspire them, instruct them, kid them, praise them--CONDUCT them! Especially with the ballads, the Latin rhythms and the dance in Cool.

[Marc Shaiman]

wow, what a fantastic memory to share. Pal Joey, thanks

[Aigoo]

I was CRACKING up when I saw this clip. Amazing. (Especially the hurricane part..hee hee).

I never got a chance to see a WSS performance, but "America" was my favorite song off the recording. Great opportunity to be able to see this.

[NBC]

Yes, thanks for sharing the memories, PalJoey, especially of Chita dancing with Debbie Allen! That must have been amazing.

MEF, where did you find that studio recording? I'm sure Caroline was terrific as Anita...I wish she'd come back to Broadway in something! (She would've made a swell Charity, too...)

I just came across a review of a regional production of WSS in Austin, TX, 1997 - starring Donna Marie Asbury as Anita and Sebastian LaCause as Bernardo. Now THAT must've been interesting...

[melissa errico fan]

Enjoy!
"West Side Story" studio recording on Amazon.com

[PalJoey]

Funny that Donna Marie Asbury played Anita--her husband Cleve was one of the Jet boys in that 1980 revival.

[DottieD'Luscia]

PalJoey, thanks for sharing those amazing stories. I was in high school during the run of this revival, but I don't remember it playing long enough for me to see it.

[wildcat]

The studio recording is based on an English regional production in which Caroline and some of that cast appeared. Unfortunately it uses some of the movie lyric changes so we get the film version of "America". Nick Warnford, who plays Riff, featured in the original Australian production of THE BOY FROM OZ as the other "Allen Brother".

[wickedrentq]

Wow PalJoey, thanks for the amazing stories, particularly the one about Bernstein! I don't blame the orchestra and can't imagine their awe. Bernstein is just such a genius...at the Museum of TV and Radio, I watched a special from the 80s entitled "Bernstein conducts West Side Story." I just sat there completely stunned(pretending to play along no less-I'm currenly playing in a summer theatre production of WSS-second time I'm playing WSS so I have it basically memorized) and OMG...he was amazing. He started giving the clarinet soloist in "Cha-Cha" some direction and I was like OMG...it's like I'm getting direction from him! I've used that one piece of direction of keeping the 16th notes even for this program. It was just amazing watching him conduct...so much feeling into it, so amazing...god I could go on and on about Bernstein. Seriously, if someone asks me if I could talk to anyone dead or alive, I'm pretty sure I'd say him without a doubt. I just am in complete awe.

[Thenardier]

Now I wanna watch Debbie again!

[ljay889]

I wish there was a recording for this WSS revival.

Debbie is a total POWERHOUSE as Charity. Nobody has sung those songs like Debbie did. Nothing like hearing a Charity belt out those tunes.

[PalJoey]

wickedrentq--he was the most all-around brilliant person I will ever meet. His conversation would go from music to theater to religion to politics to literature to history to philosophy to linguistics to gossip--and on each topic he was well-read and articulate. He was equally excited by Mahler and Wagner and jazz and the Rolling Stones. He once told us that the only cure for writer's block was to read Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland-- out loud. Try it.

There are DVDs of the Young People's Concerts he did for the New York Philharmonic in the 50s and 60s--rent them and watch them. They're pure joy. Then, if you feel up to it, there are DVDs of the series of lectures he did at Harvard. They're a little dry, but worth a stretch.

One night after a performance of West Side Story in Miami, he took the music staff out to dinner at Joe's Stone Crab to thank them and invited me along. In the limo on the way to dinner he asked the musicians what was the name of the band singer who sang with Duke Ellington in 1929 and then again in the early 40s. He said he could hear her voice but couldn't remember her name.

"Lena Horne?" one of them offered. Bernstein just scowled and said, "Lena Horne was a baby in 1929. She couldn't have sung with Duke Ellington."

"Helen Forrest?" another suggested, which made him even madder. "Helen Forrest was a white girl. She sang like a black girl, but she was white. The one I'm thinking of sang 'Love Is Like a Cigarette.'"

I happened to know a little about jazz vocalists, mostly because I loved Ella Fitzgerald. "You don't mean Ivie Anderson, do you?" I asked.

Well, he did. He proceeded to quiz me about Ivie Anderson and Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan and Helen Humes, quickly determining just how much I knew and how much I didn't. Then he challenged me.

"Do you know Ella Fitzgerald's scat to 'Lady Be Good'?"

"Of course I do," I said. "That's famous."

"All right, then. Sing it!"

I only knew the first chorus or so and sang it pretty badly, but he knew the entire song, of course, with all Ella's embellishments and interpolations. He picked up where I stopped and sang the rest, with me joining in here and there when he hit some phrase I remembered, which delighted him each time.

By the time the limo pulled up at Joe's Stone Crab, the music staff hated me, but I knew I'd had the experience of a lifetime.



 

[musicaltheatreman]

when did BLT air??? thanks :)

[Che2be]

I actually saw a video somewhere of Marcy Harriel as Maria and Natascia Diaz as Maria. The production was bland. Marcy was ok, not up to par on her acting as other Marias I have seen.

[musicaltheatreman]

when did blt 3 air on pbs?? thanks :)

[FindingNamo]

Did you end up having sex with him PalJoey, because he was always one hot daddy. In my opinion.

[PalJoey]

No, there was too much snow.

[keggss23]

I am so mad that I missed this!! If anyone would be willing to copy it for me, please PM me. Thanks =)