Liza Minnelli in The Fantasticks

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 4/2/07 at 3:06pm

Anyone saw her in this show?

[gymdudeva]

Posted: 4/2/07 at 3:15pm

It seems like she was never in the show in NY, only in a touring company, in 1964. Is that correct?

[DAME]

Posted: 4/2/07 at 3:16pm

Nope. She did it in stock. You should ask Mr Roxy or dollypop. I think the rest of us are to young.

[philcrosby]

Posted: 4/2/07 at 3:17pm

It was summer stock I believe, she never played it in NYC.

I simply cannot imagine her singing that score.

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 4/2/07 at 3:17pm

Yes that's accurate. Well but she was in the touring version of the show. It's funny that the role of Luisa is a soprano, but I bet she pulled it off, just like she did when she replaced Julie Andrews in VV.

[ChiChi]

Posted: 4/2/07 at 3:18pm

If you take a few seconds to think about the idea, and think about the different numbers in the show, you can imagine it. It's not that great, but you can imagine.

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 4/2/07 at 3:19pm

Pardon my ignorance, what is "summer stock"?

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 4/2/07 at 3:19pm

Well for whatever its worth, she certainly didn't sing the score to V/V in the same keys as Julie Andrews. Andrea McArdle also played Luisa in stock -- apparently the keys were lowered so much, Matt's music was in the bass range.

[gymdudeva]

Posted: 4/2/07 at 3:20pm

OK. I googled, and numerous sites say "tour" or "touring production." The Westport Country Playhouse site says, "Many newcomers made early appearances at the Playhouse during this period, perhaps the most celebrated discovery being Liza Minnelli in The Fantasticks."

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 4/2/07 at 3:22pm

VICTOR/VICTORIA's score was lowered to fit Liza's lower register. Her "Le Jazz Hot" did not include the final high note nor did she even attempt it. This lower register was also spoofed by Rachel York at the end of the "Chicago, Illinois" number, where she used to mimick Julie's final high note from "Le Jazz Hot". Rachel now did it almost baritone adding Liza's famous "New York, New York" arms rolls to great effect.

[gymdudeva]

Posted: 4/2/07 at 3:24pm

Muscle: from Wikipedia: "A summer stock theatre is a theatre that generally produces plays only in the summertime. The name combines the seasonal aspect with a tradition of putting on the same shows each year and reusing "stock" scenery and costumes. Some smaller theaters still continue this tradition, and a few summer stock theaters have become highly regarded theatre festivals. Equity status and pay for actors in these theaters varies greatly, sometimes resulting in sub-minimum wage pay for acting "interns." Often viewed as a starting point for professional actors, stock casts are typically young, just out of high school or still in college."

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 4/2/07 at 3:35pm

Here ya go. I scanned this from the Fantasticks book...

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 4/2/07 at 3:39pm

Wow, that's awesome, she looks so much like Judy.

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 4/2/07 at 3:39pm

Oh, and I know that they keys were lowered for Liza in VV, of course they were! But I mean she pulled it off with her own style, she wasn't trying to hit the notes that Julie did.

Updated On: 4/2/07 at 03:39 PM

Posted: 4/2/07 at 3:39pm

Wow-- does she look like her mama there!

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 4/2/07 at 3:48pm

Is that the same place ALL ABOUT US is playing?

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 4/2/07 at 3:53pm

As a youth I was pretty much obsesed with Judy and Liza, so of course i saw it, I think at Paper Mill or another Theatre in NJ.

She brought a very special energy and unusal quality that was perfect for Luisa.
When she was young her voice was a crystal clear clarion with a surprising range.
Updated On: 4/2/07 at 03:53 PM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/2/07 at 3:56pm

To continue the Judy connection:

There was a television production of The Fantasticks in 1964 that starred John Davidson and Susan Watson as Matt and Louisa, with Ricardo Montalban as El Gallo and as the two older actors: Stanley Holloway, from My Fair Lady, and Bert Lahr, Judy's Cowardly Lion.

[G_Schlozinski2]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 9:58pm

i can't imagine her ever understanding Louisa's innocent, misapplied idealism. i can imagine her playing the role as the type of 'loveable oddball' that only ever existed in the movies.

[Piercemn]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 10:15pm

The 1964 Fantasticks is available for viewing at the Museum of Television and Radio in New York. I saw it several years ago. It's not a full-length production, it's the 1950s version that Jones and Schmidt wrote before expanding it for off-Broadway. It only has the five performers listed, so the Mute, Man Who Dies and Old Actor are not a part of the show.

There used to be many summer stock theatres in the country, but two of the most famous are the Muny in St. Louis and the Kansas City Skylight Theaters. You can check their websites and see their schedules. Generally the shows are either done outside or in a tent, but others are done in an air-conditioned building. The Stratford and Shaw Festivals, theatre in the Berkshires and several other places still technically do stock.

The Melody Top in Milwaukee existed from 1963-1980, and they would bring in television performers and older movie stars to do shows. Van Johnson, Jane Powell, Robert Hayes, Joanne Worley, Arte Johnson, Anna Maria Alberghetti, Ann Blyth, Gretchen Wyler, Chita Rivera, Jaye P. Morgan and many others would come in for two weeks and do a show. I saw Dorothy Lamour and Jack Bailey in Hello, Dolly!, Gretchen Wyler and Linda Kaye Henning in Applause, Jane Powell in Meet Me in St. Louis and Jean Pierre Aumont and Marisa Pavan in Carnival among other shows.

Toward the end of the theatre's existence, they started staging plays like Amadeus, and eventually, the theatre was bulldozed and became part of a strip mall.

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 4/12/07 at 10:23pm

I can't stop listening to The Fantasticks, the CD of this new revival is fantastic!!!
Thanks Albert for telling me about it!
I love it.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 4/12/07 at 10:38pm

I actually saw Liza in THE FANTASTICKS. The production played for a week at the now defunct Plumstead Playhouse in Mineola.

I don't remember much about the show other than Liza was exceptionally good and sang "Much More" brilliantly.

I've got to dig the program out of the attic.