Info on cut number from JEROME ROBBINS' BROADWAY

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 2/26/08 at 10:58am

I just obtained a phenomenal archive of an early preview performance of JEROME ROBBINS' BROADWAY. Having seen the show countless of times, I was quite surprised to find on this DVD a sequence that was not in the show after it opened.

It takes place right after the "Charleston" dance number (in the BILLION DOLLAR BABY section in Act 1). It featured Charlotte d'Amboise (in a black dutch boy wig) and it took place in an apartment with characters coming on and dancing with her. I wasn't paying attention to the dance number, but it seemed that she was fantasizing all this, etc.

Does anyone know more about this?

The rest of the show remained intact as it was seen after opening and yes... the show still holds up incredibly after almost 20 years. Wow!

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 2/26/08 at 11:08am

I loved this show, and thought I had seen it in previews, but I don't remember this particular number you're referring to. Funny thing is, I just gave away my Playbill from this show as a birthday present.

[jewishboy]

Posted: 2/26/08 at 12:11pm

That's really interesting...

Brody, do you feel the urge to post anything of the DVD o Youtube (maybe You Gotta Get a Gimmick or Mr. Monotony)? I've always been a little fascinated by this show.
Updated On: 2/26/08 at 12:11 PM

[mmousefan]

Posted: 2/26/08 at 12:23pm

the show was amazing, a real privilege to witness. But this number sounds fascinating too....I've been lucky enough to meet a few cast members, and their stories of how material was rehearsed and then kept or cut are terrific. Someone should write a book about that experience. I'm struggling through the latest Robbins biography right now (Amanda Vaill's SOMEWHERE, for which she had access to his analyis session tapes), but haven't gotten that far in his career yet. The cast of JR's BROADWAY relate the experience as a kind of musical theatre boot camp of rotating through rehearsal rooms with him moving from studio to studio to keep the progress going...amazing.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 2/26/08 at 12:26pm

jewishboy -- good idea. For all the obvious reasons, I will post later that cut number with La d'Amboise. I will do the same for "You Gotta Have a Gimmick" with then-unknowns: Debbie Shapiro and Faith Prince, and Debbie's "Mr. Monotony".

[mmousefan]

Posted: 2/26/08 at 12:41pm

Shapiro WENT TO TOWN in that show...man, she sounded great. Looking forward to the cut number post...wonder if it's from a Comden/Green show, sounds like it might be....

[jewishboy]

Posted: 2/26/08 at 12:49pm

Thanks Brody! Debbie (Shapiro) Gravitte is my fave.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 2/26/08 at 1:04pm

"Mr. Monotony" was a cut number from MISS LIBERTY. Music and lyrics by Irving Berlin.

[mmousefan]

Posted: 2/26/08 at 1:15pm

I meant the number referred to about D'Amboise possibly fantasizing in an apartment. MONOTONY I'm familiar with, I believe it was cut from LIBERTY then added or interpoolated to be cut again in a few Berlin shows prior and after. Fosse was fascinated by it too, not just Robbins.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 2/26/08 at 1:23pm

Yup. Since the number is from BILLION DOLLAR BABY, it is by Comden & Green. I believe the title of this number is: "Dreams Come True". Will validate all this later when I get home and actually watch (and pay attention) to the entire number.

[mmousefan]

Posted: 2/26/08 at 1:42pm

for some reason I associate BILLION DOLLAR BABY with Styne, but he and Comden/Green shared a few shows too...I'll check out IBDB eventually. I don't know BILLION DOLLAR very well at all....

[mmousefan]

Posted: 2/26/08 at 1:42pm

I also tend to confuse BILLION DOLLAR BABY with HIGH BUTTON SHOES for some reason....

[morosco]

Posted: 2/26/08 at 1:50pm

Found this info in the New York Times (1989). Don't know if this is the number in question.

For example, he says, when he was looking at the 'Dreams Come True' number from 'Billion Dollar Baby,' he thought it would be nice if the Rudolph Valentino character had a cigarette and maybe a whip. 'And then later on I looked at the old pictures and saw that he had a cigarette, and he had a whip.' The number was subsequently removed from the show during previews.


Jerome Robbins Dances Back to Broadway

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 2/26/08 at 1:59pm

Bingo! I was right about the title.

AND BrodyFosse123 has the entire number (and which I'll be sharing with you all later tonight).

I ask you all -- what DON'T I have? (don't answer that, Wanna Be A Foster or my 'new' loving fan: ray-andallthatjazz86).

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 2/26/08 at 1:59pm

Morosco, Thanks for posting that link. That is one article I remember reading when it was first published. It's one of the shows I have the original cast album, but not the CD. I look for it at Virgin over the weekend with no luck. Definitely going to order it on Amazon.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 2/26/08 at 2:01pm

Brody-
Have you seen the dress rehearsal video? They keep stoping Charlotte as she starts to fly in the "Peter Pan" sequence.

If not I'll try to post it to YT tonight.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 2/26/08 at 2:05pm

Yup. I do have a technical/dress rehearsal of the show, but its of the Int'l Tour (in Japan) and Tony Roberts was the narrator. The entire thing is a full-stage shot. I believe this technical bit with the flying came from this and that's not Charlotte d'Amboise as Peter Pan.

[morosco]

Posted: 2/26/08 at 2:20pm

Also from that New York Times article it's amusing to read about its Broadway record top ticket price.

The cost is a potentially big risk for the investors. Because of the high price of production, and the high weekly cost of keeping it running, the show will need between 70 and 75 weeks of sold-out performances just to earn back its costs, let alone to begin showing a profit, even with its Broadway record top ticket price of $55. The show has a pre-opening advance sale of almost $8 million, according to the producers, considerably below the $12 million advance of 'Les Miserables' and the $19 million of 'The Phantom of the Opera.'

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 2/26/08 at 2:29pm

This reminds me of a Forbidden Broadway quote:

"Times have changed, Miss Merman"

[stagescreen]

Posted: 2/26/08 at 3:31pm

LOL at husk_charmer: "Is that the new Andrew Lloyd Webber disease?!"

"Sunset Boulevard...sounds like bull$#!* Boulevard to me!"

That remains one of my all time favorite Forbidden Broadway numbers. I'm glad they've revised it and included it in Rude Awakening (I believe it now references POTO instead of SUNSET)...

[musicow]

Posted: 2/27/08 at 6:11pm

The number was indeed MAKE MY DREAMS COME TRUE.The music is by Morton Gould and the lyric by Comden and Green. After the initial vocal there are 3 variations:

1. The silent movie romantic couple
2. The Valentino duet
3. The Egyptian princess

It is a send up of silent movie styles and like everything J.R. staged -flawless, hilarious and touching!

The number was originally introduced by Joan McCracken; an Agnes DeMille favorite and wife of Bob Fosse; playing a character named Maribelle.There is a recent biography published about this dancer that talks about the show.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 2/27/08 at 11:22pm

As promised... here is the footage from the January 1989 preview performance of JEROME ROBBINS' BROADWAY (at the Imperial Theatre, NYC).

In its entirety -- Charlotte d'Amboise in the cut "Dreams Comes True" number from BILLION DOLLAR BABY (yes, Jason Alexander is the Narrator): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmJkPfNWyhY

The entire GYPSY sequence (with "You Gotta Have a Gimmick") featuring (then unknowns) Faith Prince as Tessie Tura, Debbie Shapiro (Gravitte) as Mazeppa and Susann Fletcher as Electra. Mary Ann Lamb (yes, that one) is Louise and Jason Alexander is Cigar (the Narrator in character): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTnQBWxtpXc

Enjoy... and yes, you're all welcome.

[dancinfan]

Posted: 2/28/08 at 9:47am

Thank you so much, Brody! This number is absolutely charming - funny, clever, and sweet (and I mean all that in a good way). It makes me wonder who, these days, could get away with staging that number and not be called "too simplistic." As with all things, musical theatre choreography has developed a lot over the decades; where a choreographer could once have had dancers repeating one step for 8 or 16 counts, they now have to have to present constantly changing, complicated layers of movement. Stroman certainly did a lot of straightforward storytelling (like this Robbins piece) in Contact. I look at Rob Ashford, Jerry Mitchell, and now Andy Blankenbuehler, and they have to be extremely careful to focus (sometimes using lights to help them) and edit, or their work can sometimes miss the point, which is to tell us about a character, a moment, a feeling.

Anyway, I appreciate seeing a new find from one of the masters. Thanks.

[Smaxie]

Posted: 2/28/08 at 10:04am

Thanks, Brody. Now, can I beg for "Charleston" and the Mack Sennett Ballet?

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 2/28/08 at 10:23am

Thrilled to read you guys enjoyed those 2 clips. As for the "Charleston" (from BILLION DOLLAR BABY), that is my personal favorite (I can actually watch it 5 times on a loop), but I have to receive clearance to post that one (like I had to for those 2 I already posted).

What Mack Sennett Ballet? Oh, you must mean "On a Sunday by the Sea" (from HIGH BUTTON SHOES). I'll think about that one.