CHICAGO's "missing character", or, WHO is Henry Glassman?

[ajh]

Posted: 8/27/14 at 2:04pm

Pardon me if this has been discussed before, but I was just looking online at the Playbill for the ORIGINAL "Chicago" at the 46th St, and noticed that an actor named David Rounds is listed on the title page along with Barney Martin ("Amos"), Mary McCarty ("Mrs Morton") and M.O'Haughey ("Mary Sunshine"). Looking inside I see that Mr Rounds played the role of "Henry Glassman" (understudied by Christopher Chadman).

David Rounds isn't listed on the sleeve of the OBCR, and the character doesn't appear on the IBDB listing for the first production of Chicago, and normally IBDB is fairly scrupulous about listing cut/deleted characters in the "replacement and/or transfer info" sections. Furthermore David Rounds is listed elsewhere on IBDB and has quite a few credits but no mention of Chicago, and again this is information IBDB would usually show.

Just intrigued and wondering if anybody on here knows who Henry Glassman was, and if anybody ever saw him in any version of CHICAGO?

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/27/14 at 2:05pm

Was that Jan Brady's invisible boyfriend?

[NoName3]

Posted: 8/27/14 at 2:19pm

David Rounds played Velma's sleazy theatrical agent and had a terrific song, "Ten Percent." By all accounts he was doing a great job but the show was running nearly three hours long and the creatives decided that cutting his entire character and story arc was the simplest way to cut a substantial amount of time from the show. Ten Percent can be heard on one of the Lost in Boston albums.

Updated On: 8/27/14 at 02:19 PM

[ajh]

Posted: 8/27/14 at 2:24pm

Thanks for that, NoName3. Very interesting. Will try and track the number down on LiB!

[gleek4114]

Posted: 8/27/14 at 2:38pm

I thought thats what it might be I remembered somthing about an agent. It talks about it a bit on the 10th anniversary revival CD/DVD. I seem to remeber that they were either going to cut the agent or Mamma. The chose to keep the later and that is why we now have the Chicago that we know and love.

[Smaxie]

Posted: 8/27/14 at 2:47pm

I love the typo, "All the Jazz". While we're on the subject, does anyone know anything about the number, "No," indicated for Roxie and Boys?

[mjohnson2]

Posted: 8/27/14 at 3:02pm

I own a copy of the composer's demo of the score, and No serves pretty much the same function that Roxie (the song) did in the final version. Also on that version is "Ten Percent" "Rose Colored Glasses" a different version of "We Both Reached for the Gun" "Pansy Eyes" "I Know a Girl" "It" and "Loopin' the Loop". "Loopin' the Loop" and "Ten Percent" are both amazing songs and are better than some in the final show (LTL can be heard a bit in the entr'acte) and the other numbers are all very good, but I can see why they were cut.

Updated On: 8/27/14 at 03:02 PM

[NoName3]

Posted: 8/27/14 at 3:10pm

Part of Loopin' the Loop became the music for the overture. It was replaced in the show by Nowadays and the Hot Honey Rag at Fosse's request; it just wasn't what he wanted for the end of the show.

I forgot to mention above that the agent also served as the show's narrator. When the part was cut, the narration was divided among the chorus and bits of his role were given to Mama Morton. And I totally agree that Loopin' the Loop and Ten Percent are better than some of the music left in the show.

Updated On: 8/27/14 at 03:10 PM

[mjohnson2]

Posted: 8/27/14 at 3:24pm

I thought the narrator was still present in the original Broadway version? Wasn't it not until the revival that it was given to members of the chorus?

[tazber]

Posted: 8/27/14 at 3:26pm

You can find a few different recordings of Ten Percent if you search around.

I know one of them is on a Ben Bagley cd.
And I'm pretty sure it's on one of the Lost In Boston cds.

Anyway it's a great tune and is as cynical as you'd expect.

Also love Loopin' the Loop. The soundtrack has a great version that comes after Nowadays.

Updated On: 8/27/14 at 03:26 PM

[Jon]

Posted: 8/27/14 at 4:05pm

Yes, the original Broadway version had a Master of Ceremonies character who introduced the songs, and did a little monologue between Nowadays and Hot Honey Rag.

[newintown]

Posted: 8/27/14 at 4:18pm

"The soundtrack has a great version that comes after Nowadays."

Tazber, what do you mean? The movie soundtrack and the Broadway cast recordings all have the "Hot Honey Rag" after "Nowadays." "Hot Honey" is a jazzed-up version of "Funny Honey."

[mjohnson2]

Posted: 8/27/14 at 5:22pm

If you listen to Loopin' the Loop, it is the same melody as the wonderful overture to the show, which was included in part in movie, but despite the fact that the Hot Honey Rag sounds kind of similar, it is not the same song. The original song can be listened to on the website that must not be named if you just search the original title of the song.

[darquegk]

Posted: 8/27/14 at 6:22pm

What Tazber is referring to is the bumper music between "Hot Honey Rag" and "I Move On," which restates the "Loopin' The Loop" theme in a different way.

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 8/27/14 at 6:55pm

There's a nice version of "Ten Percent" (performed by Kander and Ebb themselves)included on the 10th Anniversary release of the revival recording.

[South Fl Marc]

Posted: 8/28/14 at 10:54am

Wow, I haven't thought of David Rounds in years. He was absolutely brilliant in "Mornings At Seven" which he won a Tony Award for in 1980. Three years later he was dead at the age of 53. The cause of death was never listed but I just assumed it was from AIDS.

I found a audio of him doing Ten Percent from the pre-broadway run in Philly.
Enjoy.




Ten Percent Updated On: 8/28/14 at 10:54 AM

[South Fl Marc]

Posted: 8/28/14 at 11:02am

On a side note, his obituary became somewhat famous because it was the first time the New York Times listed a "surviving same sex partner".

[mamaleh]

Posted: 8/28/14 at 12:00pm

Love that falsetto on "Lost in Boston"'s "Ten Percent" track, in which the agent pretends to be his own secretary taking a phone message from an irate caller: "He's a what? How do you spell that? Is that one word...or two?" Hilarious. I believe Harry Groener sings that number; would like to have heard Rounds do it, too. In any case, too bad that fun song was cut.

I also remember Rounds as a sympathetic priest in the very creepy, scary play CHILD'S PLAY, which I saw back in my student days. He was a minor character but made such an impression that I still recall how, in a mock-lounge singer style, he sang the line, "You're telling your beads/More than you're telling me." It's in my head 44 years later. A shame he died so young.





Updated On: 8/28/14 at 12:00 PM

[tazber]

Posted: 8/28/14 at 12:10pm

Thank you darquegk!

I was referring to the bumper music newintown.

I actually love the soundtrack. The arrangements are really great.

[justoldbill]

Posted: 8/28/14 at 10:59pm

Also, much of his character's dialogue, like some of the song introductions and the vocal cast list during the curtain call, were re-assigned to the conductor from above.