Author: Chris Van Patten

To Revive, or Not to Revive

South Pacific opened on Broadway in 1949, swept the theatre world by storm winning every award in sight (including the Pulitzer) and when it closed in 1954 wasn’t seen in an official Broadway revival until this year, where it rinsed and repeated the original, currently remaining one of the hottest tickets in town in spite of the other shows dropping like flies around town. This leads me to think on this boring night about the olderTony-winning Best Musicals that have yet to receive a revival on the Great White Way. (For intense purposes, I’ve left out those shows from Evita onward)

Applause. It received a failed revisal at the PaperMill Playhouse in 1996. It was also presented in its original form at Encores! which, in spite of a game if ailing Christine Ebersole, only highlighted the many flaws in the project. It’s presentation at Encores! was exactly the sort of return the show can muster – a full scale revival seems highly unlikely.

Bye Bye Birdie. Instead of a revival, Broadway was treated to the four performance bomb Bring Back Birdie in 1981, which brought back Chita Rivera (which proved that she was an ultimate pro who could still deliver a superlative star turn regardless of the vehicle) and fast-forwarded the story of Albert and Rosie by twenty years, with them approaching middle age and dealing with their teenage children. The original musical is a period satire of the national craze over Elvis Presley’s drafting. The score, by Strouse and Adams, is a mix of superlative character numbers and spot-on parodies of period rock and roll. The show has been seen in every high school in the country, was presented at Encores in 2004 and even had a television remake in the mid-90s. But no Rialto berth… hmm. There lies only one problem that I can think of: who could possibly fill Chita Rivera’s admittedly daunting shoes?

Fiorello! This charming biomusical about NY’s favorite Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia was a big success in 1959, tying for the Best Musical Tony with The Sound of Music and picking up a Pulitzer Prize for Drama, a rarity for a musical. The score was Bock and Harnick’s second Broadway entry after The Body Beautiful and put them on the map as a composing team of deft skill, craftmanship and an extraordinary ability to integrate song and scene and character (Fiddler on the Roof and especially She Loves Me further illustrate this point). This was hte first Encores! concert back in 1994, and would seem unlikely for a full-scale commercial revival; however it might prove a great entry from Roundabout (so long as they don’t reduce the orchestra or overhaul the book).

Hallelujah, Baby! Leslie Uggams starred in this concept musical about 200 years of African American history in the 1967. This Best Musical winner holds the distinction of being the show that got Jule Styne is one and only Tony award. Comden and Green did the lyrics; Arthur Laurents wrote the book and directed. The show is the second shortest running Best Musical (the winner of that dubious honor is Sondheim’s Passion), and most of the issues with the show have to do with its libretto (a time honored complaint). However it could soar with some considerable work from David Ives at Encores! with Anika Noni Rose.

A Little Night Music. One of the most enchanting Sondheim musicals, it is inexplicably the only one of his ground-breaking 70s works to not have a full-scale Broadway revival. Even Roundabout has plans to bring Merrily We Roll Along back within the next season or two. There is a London revival that is transferring to the West End for an extended run, but perhaps (and this is my hope) New York producers are waiting for the right time, the right star and all other stars to align for this show to come back. For years, there was talk of Glenn Close starring in a revival, though from what I understand that is no longer an option.

Redhead. Okay, this is one of the more obscure Best Musical winners. Many haven’t heard of it, but it was a decent-sized hit winning 8 Tonys in 1959, including two for stars Gwen Verdon and Richard Kiley. The musical, which was also Bob Fosse’s Broadway directorial debut, is a murder mystery musical about a Jack-the-Ripper type stalking ladies in and around the London waxworks museum. Even from the liner notes it’s apparent that the plot is a bit convoluted and the book not exactly up to par. Even if the book isn’t up to snuff, the score is pleasant if not top tier. This show is the definition of why we have the Encores! series. Perhaps one of these days, if they can find the right personality (Mara Davi? Charlotte d’Amboise? The ‘It’ Girl?), we can see this at the City Center.

Two Gentlemen of Verona. Probably better known as the show that won Best Musical over Follies, one of those decisions that still incites passionate reactions in the most emblazoned Follies enthusiasts. The show, a rock opera adaptation of the Shakespeare play, was a transfer from the Delacorte, written by Galt McDermott. It had a hit summer revival a couple years ago in the Park, but it doesn’t seem likely for a Broadway return. Perhaps the outdoor environment suits it best?

"That’s Him"

This is one of those stories that is repeated in all the books about musical theatre. Mary Martin, who was still a rising figure in the American musical during the early 40s, was cast in her first major lead in One Touch of Venus. The score was by Kurt Weill and Ogden Nash, with a book by S.J. Perelman, involved a barber putting a ring on a statue of Venus, thus bringing her to life and leading to romance. The team hoped to recruit the famed designer Mainbocher to design the costumes for the production. The audition involved Mary Martin turning her chair around, sitting with her arms resting on the back and singing “That’s Him,” directly to the designer. Upon finishing the song, Mainbocher agreed to do it, but under one condition: that Martin never perform that song any other way. The chair stayed in, and the show was a smash hit.

Here is Martin, many years later, recreating this song. Her voice lost quite a bit of its luster as she got older, but she never lost that charm that seduced Mainbocher into designing for her. Enjoy.

A Daughter’s Tribute

Kitt McDonald Shapiro on her mother, the late, great Eartha Kitt from a 2005 piece for the CBS Sunday Morning show:

“The one thing I always knew about my mother was that she always loved me,” said Kitt Shapiro. “And I give her tremendous credit for being able to, throughout our lives, let me know that she always loved me, and that was always unconditional.”

It was pure instinct, said Shapiro, that guided her mother.

“She had accomplished so much on her own with no family and nobody there guide her. There’s something there. Her name, Eartha, is her given name, and she is of the earth, and she is so much of the earth. She has that richness, and she’s sturdy, she’s firm. Her name is perfect for her.”

Eartha Kitt (1927-2008)

In a somber contrast to the joyous day we are having, it saddens me to report that the legend that is Eartha Kitt has passed away today at the age of 81 after a substantial battle with colon cancer. A legend of film, theatre and television, she was a multi-talented performer whose distinctive purr of a voice became her trademark. She became famous for her recordings of “C’est Ce Bon” and “Love for Sale,” as well as her most famous single which we’ve been hearing a lot these past weeks, “Santa Baby.” Orson Welles once called her “the most exciting woman alive.” She stirred up considerable controversy in 1968 when she famously brought Lady Bird Johnson to tears when she spoke out against the war in Vietnam during a White House luncheon. She would be scorned by the Johnson administration and was professionally blacklisted in the United States for years. Kitt was featured on Broadway in New Faces of ’52 (in which she sang the sultry showstopper “Monotonous”), Mrs. Patterson, Shinbone Alley opposite Eddie Bracken. After twenty years away, she returned to the Great White Way in the all-black revisal of Kismet entitled Timbuktu! Kitt’s diva entrance involved her being carried on like the African princess she was portraying by two muscular men in the chorus. Eartha brought down the house nightly by stepping down from her chaise, downstage center, and announcing her first line: “I’m here.” Then she launched into a brand new song written especially for her called “In the Beginning, Woman” (which replaced the contextually irrelevant “Not Since Nineveh,” which was geographically linked to Baghdad, the setting of Kismet). She later returned in La Chiusa’s The Wild Party (a second Tony nom) and as Chita Rivera’s replacement in the revival of Nine. She also famously brought down the house in London when she succeeded Dolores Gray as Carlotta in the 1987 production of Follies. She is probably best known on television for her portrayal as Catwoman on the campy 60s series Batman (a role also played by Julie Newmar and Lee Meriwether) More recently, she made a lot of new, considerably younger fans in her riotous voiceover work as the villainous Izma in the Disney animated feature The Emperor’s New Groove as well its subsequent TV series (for which she would win two Daytime Emmys). Professional that she was, she could be seen in NY among many first night crowds and gala events throughout her illness, as well as appearing in cabaret at the Cafe Carlyle in September 2007 and at La Pigalle in London in April 2008. Kitt is survived by her daughter Kitt McDonald Shapiro and four grandchildren.

Here is the legend performing “I’m Still Here” on the Olivier Awards during her run in Follies:

iPod Shuffle Answers

1. “With my wings resolutely spread, Mrs. Burnside” – “Gooch’s Song,” Mame
2. “The sun sits low diffusing its usual glow” – “The Sun Won’t Set,” A Little Night Music
3. “Child, I know the fear you’re feeling” – “He Can Do It,” Purlie
4. “To this we’ve come that men withhold the world from men” – “To This We’ve Come,” The Consul
5. “I went down to the tennis courts, lookin’ good in pleated shorts” – “70, Girls, 70,” 70, Girls, 70
6. “Now as the sweet imbecilities tumble so lavishly onto her lap” – “Now,” A Little Night Music
7. “Why can’t you be like a woman ought to be?” – “Old Sayin’s,” Juno
8. “You called me back with a silent plea” – “You’d Better Love Me,” High Spirits
9. “Daddy always thought that he married beneath him” – “At the Ballet,” A Chorus Line
10.”You smug little men with your smug little schemes” – “There Won’t Be Trumpets,” Anyone Can Whistle
11. “Let’s start looking alive, when we arrive it’s gonna be great!” – “Rehearse!” 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
12. “Thank the Lord Mimi Paragon’s on board!” – “Come to Me,” Sail Away
13. “The day we meet the way you lean against the wind” – “Love to Me,” The Light in the Piazzza
14. “Mademoiselle, I have followed you everywhere” – “Love Can’t Happen,” Grand Hotel
15. “Hail! Hail! Hail! Hail! Hail to the man who (hail!) without whom (hail!)” – “Duet for One (The First Lady of the Lady)” 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
16. “When you see the shape the world is in” – “Thank God I’m Old,” Barnum
17. “My life is simply great, my silverware is gold” – “I’ve Got It All,” On the Twentieth Century
18. “When the sun flew in my window and crept in bed with me” – “Sweet Thursday,” Pipe Dream
19. “Do you see that cloud up there with the number nine?” – “I Had a Ball,” I Had a Ball
20. “You dear attractive dewy-eyed idealist” – “No Way to Stop It,” The Sound of Music
21. “The best kind of clothes for a protest pose is this ensemble of pantyhose” – “The Revolutionary Costume for Today,” Grey Gardens
22. “Talk to flowers right here?” – “Hurry! It’s Lovely Up Here!” On a Clear Day You Can See Forever
23. “Take me back where I belong” – “Wilkes-Barre, PA,” Tovarich
24. “Before you half remember what her smile was like” – “Kiss Her Now,” Dear World
25. “Things may not come through the way you plan” – “I’ll Buy You a Star,” A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
26. “I will never understand what I did to deserve you” – “All the Wasted Time,” Parade
27. “I married many men –a ton of them” – “To Keep My Love Alive,” A Connecticut Yankee
28. “Staring my life in the face haunted by what could have been” – “Talk Amongst Yourselves,” Taboo
29. “That old April yearning once more is returning” – “One More Walk Around the Garden,” Carmelina
30. “I’ll bet your friends are all celebrities. That’s wonderful.” – “The Grass is Always Greener,” Woman of the Year
31. “I often have these miserable instincts” – “Nobody Steps on Kafritz,” Henry, Sweet Henry
32. “My days are brighter than morning air” – “With You,” Pippin
33. “To me this emporium is sex in memoriam” – “A Woman is How She Loves,” Coco
34. “The newspapers call you the goddess of sex” – “You Are Not Real,” The Apple Tree
35. “Glad to see you folks. Sure is homey here.” – “The Babylove Miracle Show,” The Grass Harp
36. “When I was young my heart was weaving in and out of romance” – “One Man (Ain’t Quite Enough)” House of Flowers
37. “I remember Claude. His face was gaunt, his skin was pale” – “The Tea Party,” Dear World
38. “Who’s the girl who had the men all eating from her hand?” – “Mata Hari,” Little Mary Sunshine
39. “I remember the way our sainted mother would sit and croon us her lullaby” – “Easy Street,” Annie
40. “Who’d believe that we two would end up as lovers?” – “Unlikely Lovers,” Falsettos/Falsettoland

Bonus:
“Wine francaise straight from Burgundy” – “Sur Le Quais,” Lolita, My Love
“A friend of mine was hurtin’ bad, I bought that friend a beer” – “He Got It in the Ear,” Rockabye Hamlet

Elizabeth Ashley Joins "August" Cast

Currently starring in LCT’s limited engagement of Dividing the Estate at the Booth, the Tony-winner will be packing her bags and heading across the street to the Music Box to play Mattie Fae Aiken in the Tony and Pulitzer Prize winning August: Osage County starting February 3. I know when I saw Amy Morton’s last performance back in October I said I was done; however, Ashley’s presence is enough for me to consider making a fifth trip to see those pillars of dysfunction, the Weston family.