Q & A: 9/9/05
A: For "Losing My Mind," the answer is simple: For me, no one ever touched Dorothy Collins' rendition in the original cast. Runner up: Julia McKenzie, live, in the 1987 London production.
"I'm Still Here" is a bigger problem, as there have been so many strong renditions. One hastens to mention that the original rendition by Yvonne De Carlo tends to be underrated. The song was, after all, written for both De Carlo's voice and persona, and, as long as she remembered all the words, she was terrific in the number.
But there have been any number of other great "I'm Still Here"s. Nancy Walker's at that '73 Sondheim tribute is at the top of the list. Dolores Gray's in the London production was sensational, although, once again, better live than on the London cast recording, on which, of the three leading ladies, only Diana Rigg is at her best. In the Broadway revival, Polly Bergen's "I'm Still Here" was outstanding. As seen on an Olivier Awards telecast, Eartha Kitt Gray's London replacement is pretty glorious in the number. And Ann Miller's "I'm Still Here" was certainly fun, if more exciting to witness than to listen to.
Q: Can you confirm a bit of theatre trivia: Is it true that the names of the Brigadoon characters were changed for the London production?---Martin Bennett
A: This is quite true, although I don't have an explanation for it. In London, Archie Beaton became Donald Ritchie, and his son, Harry Beaton, became Harry Ritchie. Angus MacGuffie became Angus MacMonies. Andrew, Fiona, and Jean MacLaren became Andrew, Fiona, and Jean MacKeith. Charlie Dalrymple became Charlie Cameron. Maggie Anderson became Maggie Abernethy. And Mr. Lundie became Mr. Murdoch.
Q: In your article on Sweet Charity recordings, you discussed the London recording with Juliet Prowse. While I know she did shows like Follies and Mame in various places in this country, did Prowse ever do any other musicals in London or in New York?-John Esterly
A: Prowse made her London stage debut as one of Jack Cole's dancers in Kismet. Two years after her 1967 London triumph in Sweet Charity, Prowse returned to the West End as a two-week fill-in replacement for vacationing Ginger Rogers in Mame at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Prowse would later tour the U.S. extensively in that musical. Prowse made her fourth appearance in a London musical in a limited-engagement 1976 West End revival of I Do! I Do!, at the Phoenix Theatre, co-starring Rock Hudson.
As far as Broadway is concerned, Prowse performed a version of her cabaret act as part of the bill of Eddie Fisher at the Winter Garden in 1962. But Prowse never appeared in a book musical on Broadway.
Q: Has the London musical Lock Up Your Daughters ever been done in this country?---G.C.
A: Based on a play by Henry Fielding called Rape Upon Rape, Lock Up Your Daughters was a popular London musical with lyrics by Lionel Bart and music by Laurie Johnson. It first played about 300 performances at London's Mermaid Theatre beginning in 1959. It was brought back to the Mermaid in 1962, in a revival that transferred to the West End's Her Majesty's Theatre for a run of over a year.
In 1960, Lock Up Your Daughters was headed for Broadway, with Alfred Drake directing, Nancy Dussault the ingenue, John Michael King and George S. Irving in the company, and London star Hy Hazell repeating her role. But after engagements in New Haven and Boston it ran into censorship problems in the latter city, the production shuttered.
But Connecticut's Goodspeed Opera House has done the show twice, first in 1969, then again in 1982.
Q: I seem to recall seeing Tracey Ullman in a solo Broadway play about a real-life person. But I can't for the life of me recall who it was she was playing. Do you recall this?-E. Moore
A: In 1991 at the Plymouth Theatre, Ullman played Florence Aadland in The Big Love, written by the mother-and-daughter team of Brooke Allen and Jay Presson Allen, and based on Aadland's book. Aadland was a beautician and Hollywood mother whose claim to fame appeared to be that her teenage daughter, Beverly, had had an affair with film star Errol Flynn.
The Big Love was an extremely peculiar show. While Ullman was quite watchable, one couldn't quite understand why Aadland's story was occupying a full night of theatre, or why the highly skilled Ullman wanted to play her. The Big Love ran forty-one performances. In addition to plays like The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and screenplays like Cabaret, Jay Presson Allen also wrote a far more successful solo play, Tru, about Truman Capote.
Q: In a recent article, you mentioned that Linzi Hateley, immortal as the star of Carrie, was now playing the mother in Mary Poppins in London. What other shows has she done since Carrie?--Ryan
A: Linzi Hateley has never returned to Broadway since Carrie, but has had an extensive West End career. She was the Narrator in the early '90s London Palladium revival of Joseph..., appeared in Romance/Romance, and has played Eponine in Les Miserables, Roxie Hart in Chicago, and Martha in The Secret Garden. Off-West End productions include Just So by Mary Poppins songwriters George Stiles and Anthony Drewe and Divorce Me, Darling!
Q: In addition to Rex by Richard Rodgers, has there been another musical about King Henry VIII?---Harry K.
A: Two years after Rex flopped on Broadway, London saw Kings and Clowns 1978, Phoenix Theatre, starring Frank Finlay as Henry VIII, surrounded by such ladies as Anna Quayle and Dilys Watling. Directed by Mel Shapiro, the show had book, music, and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse. Some years back, there was talk of an American production of Kings and Clowns to star Robert Goulet, but it never happened.
In 1992, York Theatre Company offered Six Wives, with music by Edward Thomas Mata Hari, Desire Under the Elms and book and lyrics by Joe Masteroff Cabaret, She Loves Me. Steve Barton played Henry, and Tovah Feldshuh played several of the wives.
Q: With the possible revival of A Little Night Music coming, I have a question. I know that Night Music has played Broadway only once, with other productions at places like Equity Library Theatre and New York City Opera. How many times has Night Music been done in London?-Edward T.
A: There have been three West End productions of A Little Night Music. Hal Prince's original production played the Adelphi Theatre in 1975, with Jean Simmons, Hermione Gingold, and Joss Ackland. This is the cast to be heard on RCA's London recording. In 1990, a Chichester Festival Theatre revival was brought to town, to play the Piccadilly, and it starred Dorothy Tutin, Peter McEnery, Lila Kedrova, Susan Hampshire, and Eric Flynn. A TER studio-cast recording was partly based on this revival, using its orchestration and a couple of its cast members. An acclaimed National Theatre revival in 1995 starred Judi Dench, Laurence Guittard, and Sian Phillips, and produced another cast recording.
Q: A friend claims that Bebe Neuwirth played the title role in Kiss of the Spider Woman on Broadway, but I don't believe he's correct.-M.C.
A: The Broadway version of Kiss of the Spider Woman played tryout runs in Toronto and London. When the production moved on to New York, Chita Rivera was replaced in the London production by Neuwirth, who continued until the end of the West End run. But Neuwirth never played the role again; the Broadway Spider Women were Rivera, Carol Lawrence, Vanessa Williams, and Maria Conchita Alonso.
Q: Looking through a friend's record collection --remember records?-- I came across an LP of the Broadway musical flop Platinum, starring Alexis Smith. I was amazed. I was sure this show had never been recorded because of its short run.-John Morris
A: That Platinum LP is, no doubt, a privately issued, limited edition disc containing the musical numbers from the show as taken from a complete, live tape made through the Mark Hellinger Theatre's sound system during the brief run. As such things go, the sound on this LP is quite good. This LP is one of several that circulated years ago and consisted of material from live tapes. Others were Breakfast at Tiffany's, Her First Roman, Foxy, and the Alice Faye revival of Good News. While these LPs had no official commercial release, they circulated among collectors and were occasionally available at collectors shops both here and abroad.
Q: Do recordings exist of Betty Comden and Adolph Green as "The Revuers"?-Douglas Abbott
A: During the late '30s and early '40s, Comden and Green wrote and performed in a nightclub act called The Revuers, joined by John Frank, Alvin Hammer, and Judith Tuvim, who would later gain fame as Judy Holliday.
A 78 preserved The Revuers in two of their sketches, "The Girl with the Two Left Feet" and "Joan Crawford Fan Club," with Leonard Bernstein at the piano. These recordings later found their way onto a Music Masters LP, combined with the cast recordings of Comden and Green's road-closer Bonanza Bound.
Of course, Comden and Green can also be heard in Revuers sketches like "The Baroness Bazooka" and "Reader's Digest" on both cast recordings Capitol/Angel from 1959, STET from 1977 of A Party with Betty Comden and Adolph Green.
Q: What can you tell me about the musical Rugantino that played the Mark Hellinger Theatre in 1964? Did you see it?-Steven Antin
A: Rugantino had music by Armando Trovaioli and book, lyrics, and direction by Pietro Garinei and Sandro Giovannini. Often dubbed Italy's Rodgers and Hammerstein, Garinei and Givannini were lyricists, librettists, and directors but not composers. Rugantino had its world premiere at Rome's Sistina Theatre in 1962 and was probably the most acclaimed in a string of Garinei and Giovannini musicals. In 1964, producer Alexander H. Cohen chose to bring the production, still in Italian and with its Italian cast, to Broadway. No less than Alfred Drake did the English translation, which was projected as supertitles.
Rugantino received mixed reviews, with a decent notice in The New York Times. But in a season that included Hello, Dolly!, Funny Girl, 110 in the Shade, High Spirits, and more, there was little interest in Rugantino, which closed after twenty-eight performances.
I saw and loved Rugantino, but it helped that I had previously listened to the cast recording, in Italian, released here prior to the show's Broadway arrival. Set in Rome in 1830, the convoluted plot got a five-page summary in the Playbill, in lieu of a "who's who in the cast." Those interested in Rugantino may wish to seek out this program summary, several cast recordings, all in Italian, and a complete television video made from an Italian revival in the late '70s.
Rugantino is the only Garinei-Giovannini musical imported to New York. But London has seen three. With music by "Kramer," When In Rome was a success at London's Adelphi Theatre in 1959. It featured songs from several G-G Italian stage hits.
In 1963 at the Piccadilly Theatre, London saw Garinei and Giovannini's Enrico, from the Italian show Enrico '61, and a vehicle for Italian star Renato Rascel, who also composed the music.
In 1978 at the Adelphi, London got Beyond the Rainbow, the English-language version of G&G's Aggiungi Un Posto a Tavola Add Another Place at the Table, with music by Rugantino's Armando Trovaioli and English lyrics by Leslie Bricusse. It was a contemporary retelling of the Noah's Ark story. Johnny Dorelli repeated in London the role he had created in the Italian production, that of a priest who prepares his village for a second flood. Unlike Enrico and When in Rome, Beyond the Rainbow got a full-length London cast LP. For a time, the property was mentioned as a possible U.S. stage vehicle for singer Andy Williams, who included songs from the show in his concerts.