Henry, Sweet Henry

[InfiniteTheaterFrenzy]

Posted: 2/14/06 at 12:18am

I recently got this CD, and it's very interesting with a lot of great material! The plot and circumstances of the production on Broadway sound interesting as well. What does anyone know about this show? Did anyone see it?

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 2/14/06 at 1:26am

I don't know the show at all except as a fascinating footnote in the career of Michael Bennett. He was 24 at the time and received his second Tony nomination for Best Choreography. In the cast were several people who played important roles in his life and career a short time later -- Baayork Lee (OBC ACL and most of his other shows and now in charge of the ACL franchise), Priscilla Lopez (OBC ACL), Bob Avian (his best friend who later shared the Tony for the choreography of ACL and Ballroom), and Marvin Hamlisch (composer of ACL -- he did the dance arrangements for Henry).

I've heard from those who actually saw the show that Alice Playten was amazing in it (I think she had a showstopper that someone out there could probably tell people about). I wish I had seen it.

Updated On: 2/14/06 at 01:26 AM

Posted: 2/14/06 at 1:43am

Get your hands on the book "The Season" by William Goldman. There is a whole chapter on "Henry, Sweet Henry".

[InfiniteTheaterFrenzy]

Posted: 2/14/06 at 2:10am

Wow. I read somewhere that Bennett and Hamlisch met working on the show, but that's incredible about all the connections that were made. Thanks, Margo!

Thanks for the book recommendation, Beerchild... the book looks great, and I'm definitely going to order it!

Okay, I just re- read the CD insert. And I quote:
"The show got one other (Tony nomination): for Michael Bennett, who also set up future trophies by becoming friendly with one of the dance arrangers: Marvin Hamlisch. As the composer has often said, "At the closing, I told Michael "I'm putting your name and number in my address book under G- for genius." We all know the rest."
Wow.

And on the CD, Alice Playten is HILARIOUS!!!! There are two great numbers she sings. They both seem like possible show stoppers to me!

[Smaxie]

Posted: 2/14/06 at 3:58am

It's a particular favorite of mine. There are some lovely, plaintive songs for the girls, like "I Wonder How It Is," "Do You Ever Go to Boston?" and the fabulous "Here I Am". And Alice Playten's two numbers are showstoppers. "Poor Little Person" was performed on the Sullivan Show and is brilliantly staged by Bennett, with Playten in full on crazy mode. The other, "Nobody Steps on Kafritz," has to be heard to be believed. But the two numbers for the character of Henry Orient, "Pillar to Post," and especially, "To Be Artistic" are pretty lousy.

I have a copy of the script somewhere, and I remember that it reads pretty well. Couple of very funny sequences for the girls.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 2/14/06 at 7:14am

I saw it as a teen and really was impressed by the staging and performances, especially Playten.
I think it opened during a newspaper strike and therefore at a dis advantage. I agree that the character of Henry as played by Don Amechee was a wash-out, but no one has pointed out that Louisse Lasser had a small role.

[WOSQ]

Posted: 2/14/06 at 9:54am

Henry Sweet Henry was one of those shows that opened out of town as a hit and the closer it got to the NY opening the worse ther word-of-mouth became. [Mack and Mabel is another example.] It opened to a whisper and disappeared in 10 weeks.

Playten got all the reviews even a tiny recording contract with the same label that recorded the show. Alas, the single went no where. I bet that is a real collectors item.

Playten told a great story later on as she was a popular talk show guest at a time when you went on a talk show to converse and not do carefully scripted plugs for a current project.

Anyhow she found herself nominated for a Tony the second year they were broadcast nationally. Tony producer Alex Cohen had the brilliant idea that everybody pay for a ticket-even nominees. The producers of the shows generously and smartly bought a pair for each of their nominees, but Henry Sweet Henry had closed months before, so the producer could have cared less about buying his nominee a ticket.

Playten bought her own ticket which was the one she could afford up in the second balcony of the Shubert. She said it was almost a relief when she didn't win because had her name been read out as the winner, she would have had to jump up and yell, "I'll be right down!" and tear down all those steps to the orchestra and then run down the aisle to the stage.

The next year nominees were given comps, a practice that continues.

[Demitri2]

Posted: 2/14/06 at 10:54am

I was really young when I saw it but I still remember the show. As far as the enjoyment factor goes, I'd put it right up there with "Bajour" and "Flora the Red Menace". I recall overhearing a phone conversation a man had in the lobby which summed up the show..."It's very cute, not the greatest but cute". There use to be a New York radio show on Sunday mornings that would feature new Broadway shows about a week before they opened. I remember listening to Bob Merrill and the producers declaring that the lead Robin Wilson who they discovered in Hawaii as a singer with Don Ho would be Broadway's next female musical star. They described her voice as a cross between Barbra Streisand and Leslie Uggams. They performed "Do You Ever Go to Boston Anymore?" to which one of the producers exclaimed always brought him to tears. The show sounded VERY promising since it had been based on a hit Peter Sellers/Angela Lansbury movie called "The World of Henry Orient". Now as to the show...poor Robin Wilson's Broadway debut was totally overshadowed by Alice Playten's performance. The reviewers proclaimed she was a pint sized Ethel Merman and she received all the positive responses to the show. The one thing I do remember was Michael Bennett's almost cinematic flow of changing scenes which was just wonderful to see. There was a moment where Neva Small, as main character Valerie's best friend, asks "I Wonder How It Is To Dance With A Boy?". The two are alone on the stage and as she's singing all of a sudden the stage is magically and beautifully transformed into a school dance with all the young boys and girls experiencing their first adult interactions with the opposite sex. I recall the scenery sweeping on the stage in such a choreographed way that was truly mesmerizing. The oddest thing about the show was Don Ameche and Carol Bruce as the show's billed stars. They were rarely on the stage and hardly sang. The first act finale was fun but very old fashioned. The girls somehow caused major mayhem for the Henry Orient character and as he's having an illicit affair with one of many married women (Louise Lasser this time), there's a police raid, sirens, flashing lights and gasps as the main characters cover up their half clad bodies as the curtain fell. In Steven Suskin's book, "More Opening Nights on Broadway", reviewer Walter Kerr best summed up the show's failure. "The show is an unpretentious musical that could probably have been fixed fairly easily if its creators hadn't been there before. Both librettist Nunnally Johnson and director George Roy Hill had worked on The World of Henry Orient, the charming film on which the current show is based, and being so familiar with the materials have this time around skipped plot points. Because they know what's happening, they assume everyone else does too. As a result the proceedings hop, skip and jump very much like a randomly cut film". On a positive personal note, it was the first time I got to be in the renowned Palace Theatre which I thought was really cool at the time.

[twogaab2]

Posted: 2/14/06 at 11:13am

There was a staged reading at the York some time ago. Oddly enough, it plays rather well as a whole piece. It might be a good choice for a local or regional company with a surpluss of young women. Many very, very good songs.

[InfiniteTheaterFrenzy]

Posted: 2/14/06 at 11:33am

Wow. All of you guys who saw it, thanks for sharing! This show is so interesting.
Does anyone know who played the roles at the York?

[Buck]

Posted: 2/14/06 at 11:36am

Has anyone read Nora Johnson's novel "The World Of Henry Orient"? It's one of my favorite novels and I read it every couple of years when I need a good cry. It's not as user friendly as the musical or movie but it's worth checking out if you like a good coming of age story. According to one of Ms. Johnson's autobiographies the novel was loosely based on her infactuation with pianist Oscar Levant.

FYI The character "Val" is based on Nora Johnson's best friend at the time while "Gilbert", the narrator of the novel, is obviously Ms. Johnson.
Updated On: 2/14/06 at 11:36 AM

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 2/14/06 at 11:43am

Oscar Levant!!!!
She sure had strange taste in men!!!
I also remember the choreography for "Weary Near To Dying" was very good.
Oscar Levant!

[InfiniteTheaterFrenzy]

Posted: 2/14/06 at 11:12pm

*bump*
Anyone know what the cast was for the York production?

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 2/14/06 at 11:16pm

The cast of Henry, Sweet Henry is: Mark Nelson (Henry Orient), Kaitlin Hopkins (Mrs. Boyd), Matthew Arkin (Mr. Boyd), Anne Letscher (Valerie), Katie Adams (Gil), Sara Inbar (Kafritz), Miriam Shor (Stella/Mrs.Cooney/Mrs. Gilbert), and in the ensemble: Cathryn Basile, Alexis Grausz, Lexy Fridell, Gwen Hollander, Lauren Molina, Roland Rusinek.
http://broadwayworld.com/viewcolumn.cfm?colid=1321

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 2/14/06 at 11:26pm

I am a huge fan of this score. This cast recording ranks at the the top of my favorite Cast Recordings of all time. Some truly amazing numbers, with a superb cast. Worth every cent.

[InfiniteTheaterFrenzy]

Posted: 2/14/06 at 11:48pm

Thanks SO much, Margo!