Collection of videos from various TV appearances, and a couple of interviews. Most of the performances appear to be from Ed Sullivan. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen Andrews perform “Just You Wait” and “Show Me” (twice, one with full costume and set, the other on Ed Sullivan). Two brief interviews at the end of the second part. The first is from around the time of the London opening in 1958, the second from Oscar night when an audacious reporter asked Julie in the press room if her win for Mary Poppins was because Audrey Hepburn was dubbed in the film version of My Fair Lady that same year.
"The Huge Medley"
One of my current favorite recordings is “Sibling Revelry” with Ann Hampton Callaway and Liz Callaway in concert. Unfortunately it is out of print (DRG, get it back out there!) but if you can get your hands on it, it is an epic win. The two sisters are so innately different as performers, but when they sing together it blends brilliantly. Ann’s timbre is a bit darker, and lends itself to jazzier renditions, while Liz’s clarion belt is the stuff of Broadway dreams. However, both have extensive ranges and both possess exceptional soprano registers, which you’ll hear in this video. This was what they refer to as “The Huge Medley,” filmed at a performance of “Sibling Revelry” on the 2007 R-Family cruise. Special thanks to my pal Robbie for finding part 2. Enjoy:
Kelli O’Hara sings "God Bless America"
It made the Broadway press circuit late Wednesday afternoon that South Pacific star Kelli O’Hara would be singing “God Bless America” at the seventh inning stretch of World Series Game 6. As I am a big Yankee fan, I was excited that I would be seeing one of my favorite Broadway talents performing. However, the seventh inning stretch came and went over the course of a long commercial break. The dips at Fox decided that it was more important to see a commercial for DJ Hero instead. Turns out they don’t like to air the segment, and only did for the first game, where a decidedly mediocre singer from West Point did the honors. (The games aired on the YES Network always air the segment).
After 9/11, the Yankees have supplanted “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” with “God Bless America,” a tradition that has remained in place. For most regular games at Yankee Stadium, they play an abbreviated version of Kate Smith’s rendition. However, for special games such as opening day, Irish tenor Ronan Tynan would sing the song. But he got in trouble a couple weeks ago for making a bad anti-Semitic joke and the Yankees were having none of that, so they canceled his booking for the rest of the 2009 season.
I checked Twitter trending topics to discover folks at the game saying things such as “Best rendition ever heard at the Stadium,” and other rave reviews for the stunning soprano. Least of which, the Yankees won the Series that evening. Now, better late than never is a clip of O’Hara singing “God Bless America,” taken by someone in the stands at the stadium that evening (so there are some non-Kelli O’Haras singing, but I do enjoy the one person who says “Ooh, what a voice!” midsong).
"Forbidden Broadway" on the Page
Forbidden Broadway is now in book form! And they are celebrating the release with several different parties:
NOVEMBER 23 AT BIRDLAND
In celebration of the release of Forbidden Broadway, the first portion of Jim Caruso’s Cast Party at Birdland on Monday, November 23rd will be dedicated to the Forbidden Broadway musical. This show-tunes themed open mic night will include performances by Gerard Alessandrini, Nora Mae Lyng, pianist David Caldwell, and more. Books will be available for purchase at the event, and Alessandrini will be signing copies.
Monday, November 23
9:30 PM
Jim Caruso’s Cast Party
Birdland
315 West 44th Street
212.581.3080
$10 Cover + $10 food/drink minimum
DECEMBER 7 AT MERKIN CONCERT HALL
Merkin Concert Hall presents an evening with Gerard Alessandrini, the comic genius behind Forbidden Broadway. Hosted by Sean Hartley, the evening includes interviews with Mr. Alessandrini and performances by Forbidden Broadway veterans James Donegan, Donna English, Gina Kreiezmar, Nora Mae Lyng, Jeanne Montano, and Bill Selby along with surprise guests. The concert is followed by a book signing with Mr. Alessandrini. Books will be available for purchase at the event alongside the author signing.
Monday, December 7, 2009
8:00 PM
Broadway Close Up: Gerard Alessandrini, Creator of Forbidden Broadway
Merkin Concert Hall at Kaufman Center
129 West 67th Street (between Broadway and Amsterdam)
New York, NY 10023
Single tickets: $40
Tickets at 212 501 3330 or www.kaufman-center.org
JANUARY 12 AT BARNES AND NOBLE
Michael Portantiere hosts a book signing with Gerard Alessandrini, creator of Forbidden Broadway. Alessandrini and other cast members will also perform songs from the show. Afterward, the audience will have the opportunity to ask questions in a Q&A. Books will be available for purchase at the event. This event is free and open to the public.
Tuesday January 12, 2010
7:30 PM
Barnes & Noble at Lincoln Triangle
1972 Broadway
New York, NY 10023
Free & open to the public.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Forbidden Broadway: Behind the Mylar Curtain (Applause Theater and Cinema Books), written by Gerard Alessandrini with Michael Portantiere, is a hilarious, loving, no-holds-barred chronicle of the revue that has enthralled and delighted audiences in New York City, Los Angeles, London, and all around the world for three decades, spoofing shows from Les Misérables to Wicked and stars from Ethel Merman to Hugh Jackman. This journey through the creation and history of Forbidden Broadway offers a dazzling, whimsical inside glimpse at the evolution of the show in its 20 incarnations to date, with zany parodies, hilarious lyrics and behind-the-scenes stories—and there’s no better person to tell the tale than the creator/writer/director of Forbidden Broadway, Gerard Alessandrini.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mr. Alessandrini is best known for creating, writing and directing all the editions of Forbidden Broadway and Forbidden Hollywood in New York, Los Angeles, London, and around the world. Also a member of the original cast of Forbidden Broadway, he is the recipient of an Obie Award, an Outer Critics Circle Award, two Lucille Lortel Awards and six Drama Desk Awards for Forbidden Broadway as well as a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Drama League. In 2006 he received a special Tony Award Honor for Excellence in Theater.
From Switzerland: The Family Pratt
Little did Julie Andrews know in 1962 that in three years she would take on the iconic leading role in the blockbuster film adaptation of The Sound of Music. On the telecast of the Emmy-winning special Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall, with best friend Carol Burnett, the ladies spoofed the smash hit musical, which was still running on Broadway and in London (as well as the national tour with Florence Henderson, and countless international productions). The sketch, called “From Switzerland: The Pratt Family” was co-written by Mike Nichols and Ken Welch. The audio track has been included on the new 50th anniversary edition of the original Broadway cast recording. Enjoy:
Two Pictures
Two musical productions that most excite me this season are The Addams Family and the revival of Ragtime. Here is the first glimpse of the former in Vanity Fair. Bebe Neuwirth and Nathan Lane star as Morticia and Gomez. Jackie Hoffman is Grandmama, Kevin Chamberlin is Uncle Fester, Zachary James is Lurch, Krysta Rodriguez is Wednesday and Adam Riegler (Cubby Bernstein) is Pugsley. Not pictured are Terrence Mann, Carolee Carmello and Wesley Taylor. The new musical has its world premiere in Chicago on November 13, and starts preview performances at Broadway’s Lunt-Fontanne on March 4.
Then there’s the revival of Ragtime. I’ve already seen it once, and am going back again next week. The show opens at the Neil Simon Theatre on 11/15. Acclaimed photographer Joan Marcus was in taking new press shots of the Broadway company, and this striking image is one of my favorite stage pictures of the evening – the tableau of the entire company seen as the curtain rises.
What Play Changed My Life?
Is there a play that changed my life? The American Theatre Wing wants to know, and as I look through the contest entries, I figured I would chime in. However, there is a 350 word limit to the entries and I am long winded, so I will post it here in lieu of disqualification.
I honestly don’t know if I could look through the list and pick one in particular that stands out as the “one.” My experience with live theatre didn’t even start with theatre itself. It started with film musicals and branched outwards from there. As a child I wore out a VHS of Mary Poppins and recall the annual viewings of The Sound of Music on television (though I was always sent to bed, incrementally seeing more and more each year – I didn’t know there was a wedding until I was 10!) It was always striking to me seeing Julie Andrews as a stoic brunette Edwardian one day, and a blonde tomboyish novice the next. Plus, I was affected by the music in each property.
As a young child, it was these films and others (such as The Wizard of Oz, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and Brigadoon) that first introduced me to music theatre and the idea of a song as an extension of the storytelling. This awareness was further promulgated with ample exposure to AMC, when it used to be the “American Movie Classics” channel with Bob Dorian and Nick Clooney (oh those were the days…) plus, there was also my father’s vested interest in the film adaptations of The Sound of Music and South Pacific.
Now, I’ve always been observant and curious. Ever since I can remember, when I became interested in something I went out of my way to learn and study about it, whether it was my fascination with tornados when I was 7, the Kennedy administration when I was 8, or the Tudor/Elizabethan era when I was 9. Watching The Sound of Movies on A&E back in 1995 triggered a similar reaction. I delved into the R&H movies, and read everything I could. There was a particularly incredibly coffee table book by Ethan Mordden simply titled Rodgers & Hammerstein that offered detailed history, analysis, photos, and was just a beautiful history of the composing team which is sadly out of print. It was through this book that I really started to understand that these films (with the exception of State Fair) had originally been created for Broadway. I guess you could say the rest is history…
Looking at the milestones in my theatregoing life there are several moments that come to mind: The first time I ever entered a theatre. I couldn’t even begin to tell you where it was, nor what I was there for. Concert? Play? Madrigal Pageant? But that is beside the point. Lingering in my mind is this indescribable feeling of entering the space. It was in the tradition of those late 19th/early 20th century palaces. There was this aura about the decor, the way the lights illuminated the space, that non-descript smell that is both simultaneously musty and clean. Add to that the anticipation that something was about to happen, plus the excitement that I was missing school to be there (I recall Sr. Benedict, my first grade teacher being there). There was something gothic and foreign about the space itself that resonated with me. I was awestruck – and it is a feeling I can recall every time I enter a theatre. For some reason it was especially vivid to me (and probably why I mention it) when I visited the Mark Hellinger Theatre last week.
And there are other moments: The first time I ever auditioned for a show – in the Paramount Center for the Performing Arts in Peekskill (dodged a bullet on that production of The Sound of Music, let me tell you…). The first cast album I ever owned – the lavish gatefold LP of original London cast of My Fair Lady. My first trip to see a Broadway show (Miss Saigon). My first ever onstage save in my high school production of My Fair Lady (one of these days, I’ll bring up those fond memories – maybe even some embarrassing video!) Also, my first time visiting the stage door of a major show (Noises Off!i). My first closing performance (Bernadette’s Gypsy; which also constituted my first backstage tour of a theatre). My first opening night (The Light in the Piazza). The 2006 Tony Awards dress rehearsal. When I see Love Loss and What I Wore on Sunday night, I will continue to add to this list.
You see, I would love to pick one and say “This is it!” But it is near impossible for me to choose “the play” as each and every live theatrical event I have seen has in one way or another informed my sensibility. I could pick some favorites, and highlight the extraordinary visceral reactions I’ve had, but if I name one I start finding myself listing everything. Even the extraordinary failures have educated me on how to be a discerning audience member. Every single time I enter a theatre it counts as a stop along the way. Live theatre for me provides a catharsis impossible to find elsewhere, and there is nothing more intimate and personal than feeling that communication between yourself and the story onstage. I’m grateful for what I’ve had, and look forward to what’s to come.
How to Make Rahadlakum…
Several weeks ago I posted Eartha Kitt’s entrance to end all entrances in Timbuktu!, and have been led to this video of Kitt performing the second act number “Rahadlakum.” Stopping midsong, Kitt delivers the most tantalizing monologue about how to make the concoction. Kitt, to the accompaniment of the percussion section mesmerizes the entire audience with her recipe turning every ingredient and instruction into a double entendre. The song in Kismet was also a suggestive showstopper, only it was a duet assisted by the chorus. In Timbuktu, the song becomes a solo for Kitt, cutting most of the actual song but extending the performance by several minutes with her new monologue and stopping the show in the process.
I did a little searching around about “radhadlakum.” It is apparently a bastardization of the Turkish term “rahat loukoum,” whose literal translation is “rest for the throat” but is more commonly known as Turkish delight. After this you may never be able to look at your spice rack the same way again… Enjoy:
"The Play That Changed My Life" Contest!
What was the play that changed your life? That’s what the American Theatre Wing asked several contemporary playwrights for its upcoming release of The Play That Changed My Life: America’s Foremost Playwrights on the Plays that Influence Them, which takes a look at that moment in these artist’s lives that turned them on to the theatre. Nineteen playwrights have contributed to the book, which will be released by Applause books this December. The choices may surprise you, as it covers the gamut of David Henry Hwang seeing Equus in San Francisco, to young Edward Albee seeing Jimmy Durante and the star elephant in Rodgers and Hart’s Jumbo at the Hippodrome in 1935 (I personally love the randomness of that one – it just goes to show you never know what sort of theatre experience will be the one that propels a person’s life). The project was the brainchild of the Wing’s Executive Director Howard Sherman and is edited by Ben Hodges (Theatre World), with an introduction by Paula Vogel. I can only hope that this will be the first in a series of volumes (actors, composers/lyricists, directors, designers, producers, etc).
However, The American Theatre Wing is curious to know the play that changed your life. They have announced an online essay contest in conjunction with the book’s release:
“What show had the greatest impact upon you, when you saw it in the course of your life, and most importantly why it meant so much to you. Entries (limited to 350 words) will be judged based on their creativity, their clarity and perhaps most importantly, for how they convey your passion for the theatre.”
So tell ATW about the play that changed your life – those few hours in the theatre, at any age, in any theatre, that had the greatest impact on your life and your perception of theatre — and have the opportunity to share your story with the thousands of visitors to the American Theatre Wing’s website while getting the chance to win an autographed copy of The Play That Changed My Life and other theatrical books from Applause Publishing.
The contest entry period is from Monday, November 2nd until Sunday, November 29th. To enter, visit the American Theatre Wing online. The final expert panel judging the contest includes ATW Board of Directors Chairman and President of the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization, Ted Chapin; Applause Books’ Editorial Director Carol Flannery; award-winning playwright David Henry Hwang; and former Time Magazine arts editor and divine theatre blogger, Janice Simpson. Additional prizes will be given based on voting by the general public, which will continue through December 11.
In the meanwhile, here’s what two Tony-nominated leading ladies had to say about the theatre experience that forever changed their lives:
‘I think it was in a strange way kind of a natural progression, you know? My mother was an actress, everyone in our lives were in show business, I grew up in the theatre world in New York, my mother was in the original company of Hair. So it just kind of came naturally, it just kind of evolved. And by the time I was eight years old it was already sort of a foregone conclusion. If we weren’t in the theatre – we went to the theatre constantly. So it just seemed like a normal thing to do with your life. It didn’t seem odd or different or strange or far away at all. I think in the early years of the Park, the Delacorte, there were things that we saw there that made me just sort of mesmerized. I couldn’t tell you the first one, but I do remember seeing Raul Julia in Threepenny Opera at Lincoln Center and thinking, “That’s cool.” And then when I was a little older, I guess about sixteen or seventeen, I saw John Malkovich in Burn This. And that was a performance that made me feel like that was a perfectly legitimate thing to want to be an actor — almost even respectable, possibly.’
‘There’s one that comes to mind right now, which for some reason always does, even though there have been many plays I’ve seen that have had a powerful impact on me: my mother took me to see Miss Margarida’s Way with Estelle Parsons and I just remember being blown away by that, by her performance. I was confused by it; I was like, “Is she a real teacher?” I was just giddy with that play and I’ve always sort of had a secret desire to do it, even though I probably wouldn’t be right for it. I just remember that having a big impact on me. I thought it was really fun — I was shocked by it and I think I was just young enough that I just thought she was a crazy woman up on stage and that kind of intrigued me, and I loved that play’