Playbill’s Andrew Gans talks to Donna Murphy on her relationship with Sondheim and her upcoming role as the Mayoress in Encores! Anyone Can Whistle. The following is an excerpt on how she got the part:
‘Murphy is now getting ready to tackle her latest Sondheim role, Mayor Cora Hoover Hooper in the upcoming Encores! production of the short-lived Sondheim-Arthur Laurents musical Anyone Can Whistle, which co-stars Tony winner Sutton Foster and Tony nominee Raul Esparza. It was another multiple Tony winner, however, who Murphy says helped get her the gig: Angela Lansbury, who starred in the original production of Whistle.
“This year [the Drama League was] lucky enough to be honoring [Lansbury], and I was asked by Michael Mayer to learn and sing [Anyone Can Whistle’s] ‘Me and My Town.’ I’d only heard that song once before, and I thought, ‘Oh, what a great song!,’ and I said, ‘Yeah! Yeah!’ . . . I had such a good time, and that night [Lansbury] came up to me afterwards and kind of took me by the shoulders and she said, ‘Have they called you?’ And I said, ‘Who?’ And she said, ‘Encores! Have they called you?’ And I said, ‘No.’ And she said, ‘Why aren’t you doing it?’ And I said, ‘Well, I haven’t been asked.’ She said, ‘I’m calling them! I’m calling them!’ And, it was incredibly flattering, but it was also one of those situations where I [didn’t] know what’s going on [with the casting]. It certainly was on my radar that they were doing this show because any time that there’s a Sondheim show happening, my ears prick up and I’m like, ‘Is there something in it for me?,'” she laughs.’
Does this mean Angie is entitled to ten percent…?