Any info on Terri Klausner, the original Evita alternate?

[Miserent]

Posted: 2/1/18 at 11:58pm

I was wondering if anyone knows what she's been up to nowadays, or even better, if anyone here is/was in the industry and may know some behind-the-scenes info on her. There are a few performance clips of her on YouTube and she is a very talented performer and she sounds great in the Evita audio bootleg I have, but I have to wonder if there is a reason we haven't seen much of her. Between Patti discussing how Terri was constantly "knipping at her heels" hoping to go on as Evita, as well an old interview on YouTube where the interviewer mentions how she sang, danced, and acted the part better than Patti, to which Terri simply smiles and says "Thank you", I have to wonder if she is truly some temperamental diva or if she chose to leave show business for whatever reason. Ever since Patti's Grammy performance, I've had a bit of Evita fever and want to know more!

Side note: if anyone knows what Derin Altay has been up to, I'd love to hear about her as well.

Updated On: 2/1/18 at 11:58 PM

[Esther2]

Posted: 2/2/18 at 2:19am

I knew Terri back in the day and diva is not a word that would ever come to mind to describe her.  She's a wonderful person.  I haven't seen her in quite a while, but if you Google her, you'll find everything you want to know.  Looks like she's doing a show in NY in April that I'd love to see...if only I was going to be in town.

[WestCoastActor/Director]

Posted: 2/2/18 at 2:33am

I had a ticket to the very first performance of Evita on Broadway. Much to my surprise it was Terri not Patti LuPone.
I had the concept album which I was obsessed with despite not liking some of the songs. Turns out they were cut for the stage version. I enjoyed it a lot. I was sorry I was not seeing Patti but I thought Terri was wonderful. I was very impressed by the show.

But to the answer to your question I've never heard whatever happened to her her after Evita.

[bk]

Posted: 2/2/18 at 3:49am

She's terrific.  I recorded a show she did, Bed and Sofa.  Wacky show, but boy was she good.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 2/2/18 at 6:08am

She was in the original production of Sophisticated Ladies after she appeared in Evita. She participated in a sort of reunion concert of a Sophisticated Ladies several years ago in New York City. I spoke with her briefly there.

[nealb1]

Posted: 2/2/18 at 11:05am

When I read that in Patti's book about the "All About Eve" aspect of her understudy, I found it rather suspect.  She was quite convinced that many were out to get her, and that just doesn't make any sense at all.  It was a very hard and trying time for her - not some big conspiracy that she hints at in the book.  

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 2/2/18 at 11:18am

If I remember correctly what Patti wrote in her memoir, several cast members (mostly female, it seems) couldn't stand her, and liked Terri better both as a person and as Evita. I suspect the whole situation was a combination of the awkwardness of their being two Evitas, Patti struggling with sustaining her voice and lashing out at people when she got frustrated, and good ol' fashioned musical theatre people cattiness. But I wasn't there, I can only speculate based on what I remember reading.

[raddersons]

Posted: 2/2/18 at 11:26am

You know may her daughter better than her today -- Julie Klausner -- from Difficult People on Hulu, and the NYC comedy scene. 

EDIT:  I'm wrong

Updated On: 2/2/18 at 11:26 AM

[newintown]

Posted: 2/2/18 at 11:29am

I remember seeing her back in the day in Sophisticated Ladies - her last Broadway appearance, in which she did a great version of "Hit Me With A Hot Note" - later in the deadly boring Goblin Market Off Broadway, and more recently in a few readings/workshops. Although very talented, my impression was that she just didn't/doesn't have "star quality" (a totally subjective opinion, I know). And although it may sound uncharitable, it seemed to me that she had a very forgettable look - not particularly attractive, or unattractive, or memorable. It seems that she certainly had a few opportunities to reach for stardom, but maybe she decided to pursue a quieter career. (She did marry and start a family in the mid-to-late 80s.)

Updated On: 2/2/18 at 11:29 AM

[latitudex1]

Posted: 2/2/18 at 12:40pm

raddersons said: "You know may her daughter better than her today -- Julie Klausner -- from Difficult People on Hulu, andthe NYC comedy scene."

Julie Klausner's mother is a therapist named Ellen Klausner. I don't know if Julie and Territories have any relation; it's never been brought up.

[ACL2006]

Posted: 2/2/18 at 1:26pm

Klausner was a frequent company swing with A Chorus Line in the early 80s covering numerous roles on the tours and Broadway. I know she covered the roles of Bebe, Judy, Maggie & Diana and eventually played Bebe on Broadway.

[raddersons]

Posted: 2/2/18 at 1:56pm

latitudex1 said: "raddersons said: "You know may her daughter better than her today -- Julie Klausner -- from Difficult People on Hulu, and the NYC comedy scene."

Julie Klausner's mother is a therapist named Ellen Klausner. I don't know if Julie and Territories have any relation; it's never been brought up."

To be honest, I saw how similar they looked and assumed they MUST be mother/daughter, but don't have any source. 

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 2/2/18 at 2:45pm

This, by far, has always been my favorite Terri Klausner performance.  Definitely a personality number showcasing everything she could do.  This is from the 1981 Duke Ellington revue SOPHISTICATED LADIES that played the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre.  She left the Broadway company of EVITA for this show. 

"Imagine My Frustration" (dance partner is Gregg Burge): 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Wgu6x7s7AM

 

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 2/2/18 at 2:46pm

I always wondered why Klausner didn't replace LuPone as the main Eva, either when they were out of town and LuPone struggled so much with the vocal demands of the role, or when LuPone's contract ended. I guess she didn't stick around for the latter, but does anyone know anything about why the former didn't happen? The show was not being sold on LuPone's name, so why not replace her with someone who didn't, to my knowledge, have the same problems with the score?

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 2/2/18 at 4:01pm

Not too shabby for Terri -- she got a Hirschfeld as EVITA (from June 1980):

[Morales2]

Posted: 2/2/18 at 4:06pm

I've been looking for a video or an audio of Terri Klausner in Evita.  Does anyone have a link?

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 2/2/18 at 4:22pm

No video has ever surfaced but I believe an audio does.

Good luck!

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 2/2/18 at 5:16pm

givesmevoice said: "I always wondered why Klausner didn't replace LuPone as the main Eva, either when they were out of town and LuPone struggled so much with the vocal demands of the role, or when LuPone's contract ended. I guess she didn't stick around for the latter, but does anyone know anything about why the former didn't happen? The show was not being sold on LuPone's name, so why not replace her with someone who didn't, to my knowledge, have the same problems with the score?"

My husband worked in casting
at the Prince office during EVITA's
long run. I saw many, many Evas
and also many auditions, and
eventually concluded they
WANTED girls who struggled
a little with the score.

I know that sounds unlikely, but
I took an opera course in college
where the instructor talked about
the problem with Yma Sumac and
her six-octave range: there was
no tension in her high notes
because she could sing
another octave or so higher.

At the same time I had a friend
who belted the entire score
of EVITA with nary a break
into head voice. But Eva's high
notes weren't a strain for her;
she had another half-octave
in her. She auditioned for the
Prince office many times and
always made the final call-
back, but was never cast in
the show. Maybe they didn't
think she was quite right (though
other directors hired her for the
show all over the country), but
then why keep calling her back?
My best guess was that she,
like Sumac, just didn't give the
walking-a-tightrope thrill on
the high notes.

[Jarethan]

Posted: 2/2/18 at 6:05pm

I saw Klausner before I even saw Lupone, because my first viewing was at a matinee.  She bowled me away so much that I was a little disappointed when I saw Lupone, whose acting was tremendous but whose diction was a problem even then.  I was always surprised that she was unable to turn that performance into a more celebrated career. She was that good.

(PS -- not that I don't like Lupone; her Reno Sweeney remains one of my favorite musical comedy performances ever; more recently, I would have given the Tony to her over Midler, though not Murphy; and I would also have given her the Tony for the revival of Sweeney Todd).

[imeldasturn]

Posted: 2/4/18 at 2:51pm

Here there is an audio clip of Terri singing Rainbow High

http://through-my-memoirs.tumblr.com/post/145218652178/terri-klausner-patti-lupones-alternate-sings

Updated On: 2/4/18 at 02:51 PM

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 2/4/18 at 3:17pm

Here there is an audio clip of Terri singing Rainbow High

http://through-my-memoirs.tumblr.com/post/145218652178/terri-klausner-patti-lupones-alternate-sings

Holy p*uckballs, thank you for this!   I have NEVER heard anything of Terri as EVITA so this is a delicious treat.  Boy, she had quite a bit of LuPone-isms.  

[Esther2]

Posted: 2/4/18 at 3:32pm

BrodyFosse123 said: "Not too shabby for Terri -- she got a Hirschfeld as EVITA (from June 1980):

"

 

 

I had a friend of mine embroider this on a t-shirt for her.  I wonder if she still has it...

[Esther Blodgett]

Posted: 2/4/18 at 5:58pm

A friend was at Catholic Univ the same time  as Terri Klausner. She has commented that Terri was talented AND nice as an undergraduate. She has only good things to say about her. For one soprano to praise another speaks volumes.

[Ludlow29]

Posted: 2/4/18 at 5:59pm

I consider myself very fortunate to have seen Terri Klausner first in EVITA.  She was thrilling in every way. - Michael Colby

Updated On: 2/4/18 at 05:59 PM

[ajh]

Posted: 2/4/18 at 7:34pm

Shared a table with her and her husband at Karen Mason’s cabaret show in London a few years ago. Didn’t know who she was although thought there was something oddly familar about her. She was very friendly and  we got chatting: at the end she asked what I thought of Karen and I said she was terrific and that if I’d had that performance of Norma Desmond (KM had just slayed two of the big Sunset numbers) instead of Close or Buckley I would have been pretty happy.

Terri then said words to the effect of ‘that is lovely to hear. Being the standby is hard. I went through it myself on a big Broadway show years ago.’ Then the penny dropped and I am sorry to say I did the big fangirly “Oh my GOD! You’re TERRI KLAUSNER!!” She seemed to find that pretty funny ....her husband thought it was hilarious. Such nice people. Wish I’d asked her to dish on Patti, although she seemed far too classy and genuinely likeable to go down that route.

Have since found a number of her performances online and I have to say I think she is sensational. Maybe she just didn’t have enough of the diva attitude to cut it as a full on Broadway star. I certainly think she had the talent. A genuine triple threat. Would love to see her in something.