GavestonPS said: "But I have to admit Parker's review of Katharine Hepburn--"She ran the gamut of emotions, from A to B."--still makes me chuckle every time I encounter it. (I agree, however, that Parker's remark is the epitome of bad critics who write to attract attention to themselves, not to seriously describe the work of art they witnessed.)"
I've quoted that line myself for years, Gaveston, so I was very surprised to find out recently that
Favorite cast album for a show you have never seen? Nov 13
2019, 01:41:40 PM
"Say A Prayer For Me Tonight" was originally written for My Fair Lady. Eliza sang it before The Embassy Ball scene and it led into a huge dream ballet called either "Dressing Eliza" or "Decorating Eliza" (accounts vary) in which she dreams she is being dressed for the ball by Higgins' servants. Both the song and the ballet were cut immediately after the first out-of-town tryout performance.
I read an interview with the dance captain who said in rehearsals the dancers spent more time
The one that got away... Nov 5
2019, 11:51:50 AM
I guess I'll add that at one point I got enough money to see either Annie with a replacement cast or Sweeney Todd with Angela and Len Cariou. I chose Sweeney and have never regretted it. I was eventually able to see them again and then see the show a third time with the replacement cast of Dorothy Loudon and George Hearn. Hearn was was very good, quite fine, although very different from Cariou in both his better vocalizations but not as subtle acting.
But Loudon was weird. Just we
The one that got away... Nov 5
2019, 10:43:53 AM
Doesn't quite fit your original request but I wanted so much to see the original production of Annie, even with one of the replacement casts. I was living in NYC but it just never happened financially -- back then I was a proofreader living from penny to penny. Literally. Everyone I knew at the time told me it was musical comedy heaven.
Best touring production you have ever seen? Nov 5
2019, 08:17:25 AM
Finch, in the late 1960s or early 70s, I saw Sylvia Sidney as Mrs. Malaprop in a small bus and truck tour of Sheridan's The Rivals. She was fabulous and it was truly a case of an old master showing the youngsters how it's done. How inspiring for a film star whose fame had basically died years before.
She stole the show in a supporting part.
Best touring production you have ever seen? Nov 5
2019, 07:48:03 AM
Markypoo, thanks for the feedback on the MFL first national tour. It really was something special for kids like us, wasn't it? The very first post I ever made on BWW was about that tour. I loved your story about meeting Mr. Drake.
mikey2573, I saw Sandy Duncan three times on Broadway as Peter Pan and it was a wonderful, wonderful production. If I remember correctly, she was the first Peter Pan to actually fly out over the audience as opposed to just flying behind the proscenium. I
Wow, after reading this thread I feel SO old. The first national tour I ever saw, which ties for the best, was the original national tour of My Fair Lady, which was a nearly complete reproduction of the original Broadway production. The only difference was that the Mark Hellinger had a large revolving turntable and Oliver Smith had to reproduce his original designs for a straight proscenium stage without a turntable. Small difference.
The tour was on its last leg and starred
Freak out songs Oct 7
2019, 12:14:06 PM
The Nightmare Song from Gilbert & Sullivan's Iolanthe.
After Eight, I'm sure it will kill any credibility I've ever had here to say that I often agree with with you, but I have to admit: most of those boulevard comedies from the 1960s just won't work any more. They are very much of their time and place.
Gaveston, I know you've already said "and I could go on" but I'll add Eydie Gormé, Steve Lawrence and Mimi Hines, Wasn't it wonderful to be living when Broadway music was the popular music of the day? And Miss Peggy Lee, again, as you said, I could go on. We could go on forever.
ETA: Annie has a score of great showtunes, but "Maybe" is probably my favorite.
I am following a Judy Garland discussion on another forum which eventually got around to her aborted film production of Annie Get Your Gun. Someone suggested that if that unfortunate event had happened just a few years later, Debbie Reynolds might have made a good Annie and then another poster brought up Reynolds' 1977 revival of the show.
That Los Angeles Civic Light Opera revival was announced from the beginning as intended for Broadway. It was directed and chor
! Jan 4
2019, 07:03:01 PM
And now I read a very plausible explanation that the star who dropped out is Patti L., because of the extension of Company in London.
Regardless, there have been some excellent replacement solutions in this thread and I'll refrain from posting further speculation from any source.
! Jan 4
2019, 11:01:38 AM
The rumor at Datalounge is that Chenoweth is who dropped out.
