Author: Chris Van Patten

Another Closing, Another Show

The acclaimed, Tony-winning revival of Gypsy appears to be the latest victim of our current economic crisis. It was announced today that the show is going to be closing on January 11, 2009 earlier than originally anticipated March 1 closing date. So if you’ve not had a chance, now is the time to see the three superlative characterizations of Patti LuPone, Laura Benanti and Boyd Gaines as you’ve got less than a month. Will any of the bloggerati who were at the opening night or post-Tony show be out for the last performance?

It’s a little frightening when you consider the shows that will be gone over the next few weeks: Spring Awakening, Hairspray, 13, Boeing Boeing, Grease, Spamalot and Young Frankenstein. That doesn’t include the current limited engagements of Liza at the Palace, Dividing the Estate, All My Sons, The Seagull, Equus, Speed the Plow, and A Man for All Seasons, which ended today. I wish the new shows still to open this season the best of luck, as it becomes more and more apparent that they will be facing an uphill climb to find an audience and establish a long term run. If you were hoping to see any of these shows, go! There are discounts to be had via the Playbill, Theatremania and Broadway Box websites. The shows may be going, but they haven’t gone yet!

"Rainbow Round My Shoulder"

I could repeat and rehash all of the superlative salvos that have been showered down upon the immortal Barbara Cook. Her professionalism, musicality, her warmth, her breadth of emotion and her uncanny ability to inhabit a lyric. It’s all been said before and will be said again: Barbara Cook is a living legend, who at 81 shows no signs of slowing down and continues to grow as an artist. And that is why it is imperative you pick up her latest solo album from DRG, “Rainbow ‘Round My Shoulder.” Cook essays a diverse branch of composers including regulars Gershwin, Bernstein, Bucchino (a devastating “If I Ever Say I’m Over You”) and Sondheim (of course), but also giving us Walter Wolcott (a scintillating “Sooner or Later” from the controversial Song of the South), Kurt Weill (the sublime “Lost in the Stars,” here paired with Sondheim’s “No More” in a haunting medley), and even Ray Charles (“Hallelujah, I Love Him So”). Every track is a gem. It’s definitely one of the most notable solo album releases of 2008. I would have to put it on my list of gift recommendations for anyone reading who is in need of a gift for a Broadway/cabaret fan. You can never go wrong with Barbara Cook.

Name That Tune – IPod shuffle style

While I was checking out the facebook this evening, an addiction for which there appears to be no cure, I discovered a friend of mine had created a quiz involving his iPod library. Following his lead, I put my ipod on shuffle and I’ve quoted the first line of each song. All I need is the song title and the show in which it appears. Some are easy, but I’m not going to lie, some are rather obscure, so knock yourselves out!

1. “With my wings resolutely spread, Mrs. Burnside”
2. “The sun sits low diffusing its usual glow”
3. “Child, I know the fear you’re feeling”
4. “To this we’ve come that men withhold the world from men”
5. “I went down to the tennis courts, lookin’ good in pleated shorts”
6. “Now as the sweet imbecilities tumble so lavishly onto her lap”
7. “Why can’t you be like a woman ought to be?”
8. “You called me back with a silent plea”
9. “Daddy always thought that he married beneath him”
10.”You smug little men with your smug little schemes”
11. “Let’s start looking alive, when we arrive it’s gonna be great!”
12. “Thank the Lord Mimi Paragon’s on board!”
13. “The day we meet the way you lean against the wind”
14. “Mademoiselle, I have followed you everywhere”
15. “Hail! Hail! Hail! Hail! Hail to the man who (hail!) without whom (hail!)”
16. “When you see the shape the world is in”
17. “My life is simply great, my silverware is gold”
18. “When the sun flew in my window and crept in bed with me”
19. “Do you see that cloud up there with the number nine?”
20. “You dear attractive dewy-eyed idealist”
21. “The best kind of clothes for a protest pose is this ensemble of pantyhose”
22. “Talk to flowers right here?”
23. “Take me back where I belong”
24. “Before you half remember what her smile was like”
25. “Things may not come through the way you plan”
26. “I will never understand what I did to deserve you”
27. “I married many men –a ton of them”
28. “Staring my life in the face haunted by what could have been”
29. “That old April yearning once more is returning”
30. “I’ll bet your friends are all celebrities. That’s wonderful.”
31. “I often have these miserable instincts”
32. “My days are brighter than morning air”
33. “To me this emporium is sex in memoriam”
34. “The newspapers call you the goddess of sex”
35. “Glad to see you folks. Sure is homey here.”
36. “When I was young my heart was weaving in and out of romance”
37. “I remember Claude. His face was gaunt, his skin was pale”
38. “Who’s the girl who had the men all eating from her hand?”
39. “I remember the way our sainted mother would sit and croon us her lullaby”
40. “Who’d believe that we two would end up as lovers?”

Bonus:

“Wine francaise straight from Burgundy”
“A friend of mine was hurtin’ bad, I bought that friend a beer”

Van Johnson (1916-2008)

Film and stage actor Van Johnson has died at the age of 92. He had recently been living in an assisted living facility in Nyack, NY. Johnson forged an indelible image as an easy-going, sandy haired presence in many popular films of the 1940s and 50s, and later carved out a niche in regional, Broadway and London theatre scenes. His Broadway career included Too Many Girls and the original production of Pal Joey, where he understudied Gene Kelly in the title role. Following in Kelly’s footsteps, he went out to the West Coast and his film career soon began with an uncredited bit in the film adaptation of Too Many Girls, which starred his good friend Lucille Ball (who was instrumental in jumpstarting his acting in Hollywood).

Signing with MGM, he became part of the studio system, rising in the ranks as a matinee idol in diverse projects such as Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, State of the Union, In the Good Old Summertime, The Caine Mutiny, Brigadoon, The End of the Affair and The Last Time I Saw Paris. His costars included Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Kathryn Grayson, Humphrey Bogart, Jose Ferrer, Elizabeth Taylor, June Allyson, Judy Garland, Deborah Kerr, Gene Kelly, Angela Lansbury, Esther Williams, Tony Martin, Janet Leigh, Clark Gable and Walter Pidgeon, to name a few.

When his film career waned toward the late 50s/early 60s, Johnson went to London where he starred as Professor Harold Hill in the original West End company of The Music Man (while we’re on it, the Laserlight CD release of the London cast album is decidedly incomplete; thankfully I have the complete HMV recording). Johnson’s Broadway comeback in the 1960s included the shortlived Come on Strong with Carroll Baker and the one-performance wonder Mating Dance, as well as replacing John Cullum as Dr. Mark Bruckner in On a Clear Day You Can See Forever. Johnson would go onto star in regional and stock productions, with a final Broadway turn as a replacement Georges in the original production of La Cage Aux Folles. He also made several notable appearances on television, including the musical episode of “The Love Boat” with Ann Miller, Ethel Merman, Della Reese and Carol Channing as well as several guest bits on “Murder, She Wrote.” Johnson is survived by his daughter Schuyler (from marriage to Eve Abbott Wynn).

Hugh Jackman to Host Oscars

It was announced today that Hugh Jackman will host the 81st annual Academy Awards ceremony on February 22, 2009. It’s a bit of a left-field choice, considering most recent hosts have a background in either stand-up or sketch comedy. However, if his charismatic turns hosting the Tonys in 2003 & 2004 are any indication, I don’t think viewers have much to worry about. Though one does wonder, does he plan on singing?

The Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center

For all the fans of Kate the Great, here is some fun news: The Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center is being established in Old Saybrook, near at her family home in Fenwick. I received a comment from Ann, who runs the blog documenting the progress of the theatre arts center, which is currently under construction and poised to open in the summer of 2009, informing me about this wonderful project. The non-profit theatre organization is going to take residence in a historic theatre on Main Street in the Town of Old Saybrook, with funds provided the town and private donations raised by trustees of the organization. “The Kate” as the theatre has already been affectionately monikered, will feature a 250 seat theatre as well as a museum devoted to the iconic actress.

Hepburn, one of the last true stars of the Hollywood Golden Age, died in 2003 at the age of 96, leaving behind a considerable legacy on stage, on television and most notably on film. Her relationship with Spencer Tracy has taken on an iconically romantic status of its own. She alone holds the record for most Oscar wins by an actor with four statuettes (for Morning Glory, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, The Lion in Winter and On Golden Pond), though the always practical Kate never really cared for awards or the fuss of celebrity. Kate also treaded the boards in the The Lake (prompting that oft-quoted zinger by Dorothy Parker), The Philadelphia Story, Coco, A Matter of Gravity and The West Side Waltz (the latter opposite Dorothy Loudon, what a night that must have been), earning two Tony nominations along the way.

Hepburn is one of my all-time favorite actresses. With her distinctive looks, voice and independent personality she defied what was expected of a movie star, one of the reasons why she remained a movie star for sixty years (unlike her contemporaries, like Joan Crawford and Bette Davis who found themselves reduced to camp roles in lower quality films). She won her last Oscar as leading actress in 1982, just before she turned 75; and she would continue to work steadily throughout the 1980s, ultimately retiring in poorer health after a brief cameo in 1994’s Love Affair. Her film roles were very diverse, from literary heroines to historical figures to screwball comedy heiress to witty, urbane society women, to vulnerable “spinsters”, etc.

It should be noted that she had some of her greatest successes (and a couple of failures along the way) working in film adaptations of plays. Starting with her 1932 debut in A Bill of Divorcement, she also brought stage characters to the screen in Morning Glory, Spitfire, Quality Street, Stage Door, Holiday, The Philadelphia Story (inspired by and written for her by Philip Barry; one of the best things that ever happened in her career), Without Love, State of the Union, Summertime (David Lean’s Technicolor valentine to Venice in an adaptation of Arthur Laurents’ The Time of the Cuckoo), The Rainmaker, Desk Set, Suddenly Last Summer, Long Day’s Journey Into Night (one of her finest hours as an actress), The Lion in Winter (my personal favorite?), The Madwoman of Chaillot, The Trojan Women, A Delicate Balance, The Glass Menagerie (for TV), The Corn is Green (also for TV), and On Golden Pond. That’s not even taking into consideration those roles written expressly for her: Bringing Up Baby, Woman of the Year, Adam’s Rib, The African Queen, etc. Speaking of The African Queen… this classic has yet to be released on DVD in the United States… someone is clearly sleeping on the job here! So to whomever owns the rights: restore it, reissue it and give it the superlative DVD treatment it deserves.

Now as an added treat, here is Kate’s one and only appearance on the Academy Awards. Under an incredible veil of secrecy, Hepburn showed up (in a black Mao pantsuit and garden clogs, at that) to present the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award to her friend and colleague, Lawrence Weingarten at the 46th annual ceremony in 1974. The audience reaction she receives after a gracious introduction by the one and only David Niven (remember when Hollywood gave us such class acts?) is one of those for the ages – and so is her quip…

She was a star. One of the best we’ve ever had. Now… who’s up for a road trip to Old Saybrook this summer…?

I Rise Again!

After a precarious week, I am back online and rarin’ to go. On Wednesday evening, my computer shut down in some sort of fatal error that froze the system and begat the ruination of my week. Upon my restart, instead of a general start-up, I was face to face with the nefarious Blue Screen of Death. The BSD, which isn’t anyone’s friend, continued to pop up as the system refused to access Windows and start-up. My laptop is relatively new, so needless to say, I was bitchy, twitchy and manic. Enough, anyway, to contact tech support at 3 in the morning (which proved useless as she never called me back – I decided to pass out and try again, thankfully receiving an individual of actual competence who was very helpful and decidedly sympathetic. I’ll spare you the gory details, but suffice it to say there was the obligatory wailing, gnashing of teeth and rending of garment.

So I got a new hard drive to install and I’ve been building myself back up. Many of you know that I have an enormous collection of music; theatre and otherwise. Fortunately I had about 80% of it backed up. I’ve also been working toward getting back the other items that were lost along the way. Needless to say this has taken an impact into my blogging time…

In happier news, I returned to the revival of A Man for All Seasons on Tuesday night as part of my Roundabout subscription. I’ve gotta give it to them, everyone at Roundabout is nothing short of wonderful (especially my dear old friend Tova Heller, with whom I went to high school) and were very accomodating in switching my ticket. (I was supposed to see this on November 23, but shows were canceled because, presumably, Frank Langella had to fulfill press obligations for the upcoming Frost/Nixon film. My only complaint with the relatively intimate American Airlines Theatre is with the desing of its mezzanine. I have no issues with the sightlines or the seating (I was in the center front mezz, not bad all things considered), but the lack of any center aisles does leave things wanting, especially since it’s practically inconvenient to everyone. Those in the middle go on safari through a sea of limbs to get to their seats while those on the aisle find themselves sitting and standing like they were at Mass.

The show onstage is considerably stronger than it was when I saw it on the fourth preview in September. Langella is magnanimous, and the supporting cast is, for the most part, doing strong work (though the inconsistency with the accents is still a sticking point). The audience this time around was a remarkably more responsive crowd, appreciating the understatedly dry wit and humor of More and finding themselves incredibly moved during the more devastating parts of the second act, as we watch the man’s physical decline in his imprisonment. (Langella’s physical transformation, within a span of seconds, is stunning).

As someone who has always been fascinated by the Tudor period of English history (all those wives! all those outcomes!), it’s satisfying to see historical figures dramatized. When I was ten, I went to England for the first time and was able to visit the Tower of London and Hever Castle (where Anne Boleyn’s family resided), reading about the different figures, wanting to divest myself in their history and know as much as I could about them and their incredibly melodramatic existence. (Of course, we still have such sensational figures in our society, but on a more laughable level; they’ve sure cut back on the beheadings). Court intrigue, conflicts, heightened emotional intensities, etc etc. It has to be said that our entertainment world has a great fascination with the era on stage, on screen and on television: Anne of the Thousand Days, Mary of Scotland, Mary Queen of Scots, Elizabeth, Elizabeth I, The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex, Young Bess, The Virgin Queen, Elizabeth R, The Tudors, The Six Wives of Henry VIII, The Private Life of Henry VII, Anna Bolena, Maria Stuarda, A Man for All Seasons, The Other Boleyn Girl, Rex, etc. The actors who have played these noted figures: Vanessa Redgrave, Glenda Jackson, Katharine Hepburn, Charles Laughton, Bette Davis, Florence Eldridge, Helen Mirren, Cate Blanchett, Penny Fuller, Nicol Williamson, Richard Burton, Charlton Heston, John Gielgud, Genevieve Bujold, Paul Scofield, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Jean Simmons, Rex Harrison, Judith Anderson, et al. There will be many more adaptations and incarnations of these same stories to come, though I have to say, why not something about Sir Richard Rich, considered one of the top historical villains of all-time and the man who betrayed Sir Thomas to his ultimate death. I think there’s an interesting story waiting to be told.

Seasons ends its extended limited run next Sunday, so if you haven’t had the chance, run to the American Airlines to see one of America’s finest stage actors giving a superlative star turn. Trust me, he’s worth it.

I shall now resume a more regular blogging schedule… Gee, but it’s good to be here!!

Elaine Stritch talks "30 Rock" with Kari

My friend Kari, our blogosphere’s answer to Tina Fey, had the opportunity to participate in a conference call interview with the one and only Elaine Stritch about her upcoming appearance on the 30 Rock Christmas episode. For those who aren’t watching this brilliant series – and you should be, Stritch plays Colleen, the unrelentingly brash and tough-as-nails mother of Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin). She won an Emmy for her first appearance on the first season finale. You can read the delightfully colorful and unabashedly honest things she had to say about the series and her co-star here. Stritch has asked Fey to write an episode for her to appear in with Nathan Lane as her other son. I up the ante, and say bring back the whole Donaghy clan including Molly Shannon as their sister. (“I want you to punch your sister in the face.” from that particular first season episode is one of the many comic lines this contemporary classic has to offer).

"I Was Never in the Chorus"


I post this rare shot of Anne Francine and Angela Lansbury performing “Bosom Buddies” in Mame for my own Moon Lady and fervent Mame/Lansbury enthusiast, Sarah, who I think will appreciate this more than anyone else. In talking about the character of Vera Charles with a friend of mine, I decided to google image Ms. Francine and lo and behold, this shot popped up. Francine, born into a wealthy Main Line Philadelphia family, was a noted actress and sophisticated nightclub singer who replaced Tony-winner Bea Arthur as eternally inebriated Vera about a year into the original run. She toured with Lansbury in 1968 and subsequently returned for the remainder of the show’s Broadway run . She also reprised the role in the short-lived revival, again with Angie, in 1983. She considered this the favorite role of her career. Other Broadway appearances included By the Beautiful Sea, Tenderloin, The Great Sebastians and the 1987 Lincoln Center revival of Anything Goes. Her film work was scarce (she was in Juliet of the Spirits, The Savages and Crocodile Dundee); however, some of you may recognize her as Barbara Eden’s archnemesis Flora Simpson Reilly on the TV series “Harper Valley, PTA.”

Now, getting down to business, who should play Vera in the next revival…?