Recording “The Ladies Who Lunch”

When the original Broadway cast of Company went into the Columbia recording studios to lay down the revolutionary Sondheim score, theatre fans were afforded an incredible opportunity as documentary filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker was on hand to tape the marathon 18 hour session. It was to be the first in a series, but the full project never materialized. But this one session became the legendary Original Cast Album: Company. Before present union regulations, the tradition was that a cast album was recorded on the first day off after opening night. In that one day. It was a marathon session which started early in the morning and would usually take up the entire day and often go well past midnight.

Sitting like lords in the sound booth, Sondheim and 12 time Grammy winning record producer Thomas Z. Shepard give input and feedback regarding individual performances. Producer-director Harold Prince is also on hand to observe. But it’s mostly Sondheim and Shepard running things, conferring with conductor Harold Hastings, orchestra and performers. It’s quite clear that the original cast album is the definitive performance and everyone and everything must be perfect, down to the last note. Therefore, Sondheim asks Beth Howland that she sing rather than speak more of the patter of “Getting Married Today” and they re-do “You Could Drive a Person Crazy” when a wrong note is heard in the tight three part harmony. Dean Jones, whose singing on the album has always sounded impassioned to me, stands at the microphone like an automaton throughout most of the session.

But the most memorable segment was the notorious attempt to record Elaine Stritch‘s “The Ladies Who Lunch.” Coming at the end of the session, Stritch tries her hardest to get out her showstopper. She’s in her trademark tights and long button-down shirt. No make-up and her hair askew. However, for a variety of reasons  – physical exhaustion, vocal fatigue included – she just can’t nail it. She gives it her all, but to the disappointment of those in the booth her takes are lackluster. Sondheim suggests taking it down a half tone, Stritch’s response is that she can do it if she takes her hat off (among similar signs of nerves and exhaustion). It doesn’t go well, and in fact each take gets progressively worse as the session progresses. Tensions arise with an impatient record producer and a perfectionist composer struggling to figure out how to fix the problem. Eventually we cut to Stritch screaming at her own performance on the playback.

It’s decided to have the orchestra lay down the track and to have Elaine come in and record over it another day. When she returns to the studio several days later, it’s like night and day – Stritch coiffed in full hair and makeup for the show – hits the home run heard on the cast album. A triumph for all. In the DVD commentary, Hal Prince suggests that Stritch might have been playing to the cameras in the room – even down to the hair and makeup. Stritch denies it outright – that she was at her worst and quite humiliated and insecure and that she doesn’t even remember where she ended up that night. The star also talks about how hurt she was to hear Shepard say, “Once more from the top. Sung.”

Pennebaker, using just three hand held cameras captured the entire day of recording and whittled it down into this hour-long documentary showcasing the hard work that goes into the creation of a cast album. It’s a shame he wasn’t able to do his full series (I can’t imagine what the Follies session must have been like with all the devastating cuts Capitol insisted upon for the record) Who knew making a cast album could be so riveting? (And yes, one of those 12 Grammys was for Company).

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Big Screen: “It’s a Wonderful Life”

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Since seeing The Sound of Music onscreen a couple of months ago, I have decided that I want to see as many of my favorite classic films in a movie house whenever the opportunity arises. I realize that I have known many of these great films from viewing them on a 27 inch screen growing up, but while I’ve had an avenue for seeing the films I haven’t really had the opportunity to see them how they were originally intended. Until recently, most films on TV were presented panned-and-scanned (something I’ve been against since ninth grade). Seeing The Sound of Music in a larger format allowed me a chance to really look at the film – its cinematography, its sets, costumes and its actors – with renewed interest. The bigger the format, the more detail and nuance that I can appreciate.

A couple weeks ago I was out driving through northern Westchester with some friends. Driving through Peekskill, we passed a grand old movie palace known as the Paramount Center for the Arts. The theatre opened on June 27, 1930 with a big celebration which included the local mayor and the Paramount Symphony orchestra (who played the overture). The film shown was The Big Pond starring Maurice Chevalier and Claudette Colbert. The 1500 seat venue was built by Paramount subsidiary Publix, Incorporated. For forty years, the movie house was a staple of the small city. It had luxurious lounges and a large Wurlitzer organ that rose from the floor of the stage. However, due to the decline of the studio system and the rise of the cineplex, the theatre started to decline and was sold in 1973. Through some tax error, the building was defaulted to the city of Peekskill who have maintained ownership since 1977.

Interest in the building led the city to establish a non-profit independent organization to run and operate the facility. After the removal of several hundred seats and some technological improvements, the building was once again in 1982. In the last ten years the Paramount has undergone a massive restoration, bringing the venue back to its original 1930 look. The ceilings and walls were replastered. The original paintings and murals were reconstructed. The seating was refurbished and the floors recarpeted. Millions of dollars were poured into the building and the results were staggering. The center now offers a mix of local performances, established artists and films in their repertoire. I’ve seen community theatre productions as well as Barbara Cook’s Mostly Sondheim over the years.

Meanwhile, back in the car we noticed that the sign on the marquee said “Holiday films.” Thanks to my new smartphone, I was on google before anyone could even blink. I was hoping that I would open up the website to see It’s a Wonderful Life listed. Of all the Christmas-related movies I’ve ever seen, this remains my favorite. In fact, it’s just one of my favorite films period. Christmas Eve plays a huge factor in the film’s plotline, but it’s a much more universal – and darker – story than most holiday films. Every year I watch it close to Christmas, if not on the actual holiday. And every year, I appreciate it more and more. The performances, particularly Jimmy Stewart as George Bailey, are top notch. Donna Reed has never been lovelier. Lionel Barrymore hasn’t been more sinister. Frank Capra’s direction is superb, the script strikes the right tone finding a balance between the sentimental and sobering.

I can still recall the Christmas screenings that aired ad nauseam when I was a child, before the copyright restricted the film to two airings during the season. At some point during the holiday season, there was a channel showing the film either in its original black and white or one of those god-awful computer-colorized versions. I was struck by the story, amused by the presence of angels (particularly how they were depicted in outer space). But it wasn’t until I was older that I really understood the severity of the story. (When I was really young, I was almost scared of the sequence in which George sees a Bedford Falls without his existence).

Well, I ended up going alone but it was one of the most enjoyable times I’ve ever had in a movie theatre. Though there were a thousand seats, I think there were only between 30-40 people in the house (some of whom were upstairs in the mezzanine). So I had a whole section of the center orchestra to myself. I observed the crowd coming in. Families and friends bundled in their coats. Some with popcorn and beverages (I resisted the concession stand in the lobby). It had been five years since I had seen anything at the theatre so I took in the surroundings which were removed enough to seem familiar but strange. My last trip had been the 75th anniversary gala concert with headliner Bernadette Peters. (Non-sequitur: every time I’ve seen Bernadette, SarahB has been in house. Even before we met!)

There was something transporting about the experience, almost (dare I say it) like something out of the movies. Sitting there and appreciating the film in the dark house I had these mental flashes that I was back in 1947. The multiplex treatment of films certainly has done wonders for box office business, but what I realized is that it comes at the cost of the romance of movie-going. Movies use to be more like live theatre with roadshow engagements, intermissions and ushers; the works. That sort of thing doesn’t really exist anymore and why I love the opportunity of seeing the films I grew up with on television on the big screen. We applauded as the lights went down and again when they came up. There was a family a few rows in front of me whose son was seeing the film for the first time. He said, “Say, that wasn’t bad for an older film.” I couldn’t help but smile. I left the theatre quite invigorated and ready for the holiday season. And with “Auld Lang Syne” stuck in my head for hours.

Need a Little Christmas Now

Pop singer Jane Morgan is no Angela Lansbury (who is?) but she sang the hell out of lead role in the original production of Mame.  If anything, this December 15, 1968 performance of “We Need a Little Christmas” on The Ed Sullivan Show let’s us see how the number looked onstage (choreography: Onna White). Two-time Tony-winner Helen Gallagher is Gooch (she would played Vera in this production- talk about versatility). I’m getting into the Christmas spirit and starting to live these lyrics once again. I’m looking forward to the holiday season and I hope you are as well.

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Say Goodbye to “The Scottsboro Boys”

While I didn’t expect The Scottsboro Boys to run for years, I was still quite taken aback and shocked to read that the new musical was closing. The Kander and Ebb show – their final collaboration- will shutter on December 12 after only 49 performances and 29 previews. With a book by David Thompson and superlative direction and choreography by Susan Stroman, Scottsboro told the story of these nine men who were falsely accused, tried and convicted for the rape of two white women, in one of the darkest chapters in the history of racial America.

Drawing upon historical record and fact, the creative team built one of the most original musicals that has been seen on Broadway in quite some time. The musical is presented as a minstrel show, using minstrel techniques as a framing device to both comment and condemn the incident with an Interlocutor, cakewalks and even a shocking, gut-wrenching use of black-face. The musical first appeared at the Vineyard Theatre last spring followed by a pre-Broadway run at the Guthrie in Minneapolis this summer. It started previews on October 7 and opened to mostly positive (if somewhat reserved) reviews on Halloween.

I guess it’s the nature of the business these days, but it seems that producers are either unwilling or unable to allow a show that’s not particularly mainstream to build an audience via word of mouth. Last season’s revivals of Finian’s Rainbow and Ragtime were met with a similar fate. None of these shows was what I would deem well-publicized, and their exceptional quality alone didn’t seem to help draw audiences. Interestingly, all three deal with racial injustice in one way or another. (Another show dealing with race relations, Memphis, the only new musical with an original score last season, won the Best Musical Tony and is still running).

Oscar Hammerstein II’s adaptation of Edna Ferber’s Show Boat took daring strides in presenting the famed “Miscegenation scene” involving a biracial principal character and also integrating black characters with white characters. Joe and Queenie are more than servants, they are part of the Show Boat family and are treated with dignity and respect by the white proprietors. Other musicals have been less successful: Hallelujah, Baby! and 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue come immediately to mind as failures whose authors’ good intentions came off as expressions of condescending white liberal guilt.

Even the 1993 revival of Show Boat directed by Harold Prince (with Stroman’s choreography) was met with protestors who felt the show was racist, similarly to those who protested Scottsboro a few weeks ago. Never in my experiences with musical theatre have I experienced a musical that dealt with race relations with unflinching honesty; uncompromising and unyielding about the ugly core at the center of the story. The creators of Scottsboro were not out to make light of this story; their use of the techniques is at once alienating and fascinating, forcing the audience to confront an ugly past that in our politically correct age we’d rather not think about.

‘Post-racial America’ is a term I’ve heard a lot, especially since Barack Obama was elected President. However, I don’t know if that’s a term that rings true. I’m hopeful for equality and great progress has been made in the 80 years since the Scottsboro incident. But it’s foolish to neglect the fact that racism is still a problem in the U.S. and may always be one. Whether it’s some idiot using an ethnic slur over a Wal-Mart intercom, or accusations of racism in government hierarchies and political parties or physical violence, there are still many issues that need to be worked out. If you do a news search for the term “racist attack” you might be surprised at the number of recent articles that pop up – and on an international level. Platitudes only get us so far. Understanding what has been is the only way we can learn and therefore make strides for what should and must be a better tomorrow. The Scottsboro Boys is a show that can start the conversation we should all be having about inequality in America.

When the show closes, it will mark the shortest run of any Kander & Ebb show since 70 Girls 70 in 1971. I’m a bit surprised that the producers didn’t even want to give it an extra few weeks. The two weeks around Christmas and New Year’s Day are the two most lucrative in the Broadway season. I recall seeing Souvenir at the same theatre five years ago – a show that had been struggling since opening and had posted its notice – selling out an entire Wednesday evening house. The two kids next to me admitted that they had never heard of the show but couldn’t get tickets to anything else. No expectations, but they wanted to see a Broadway show. During that time, tourists will even see the less popular vehicles. It’s a glorious time. Why they chose to close before Christmas is beyond me. I say give it an extra month, at least.

Another thing about the show, and something I had a great conversation with Jesse North of Stage Rush about after we saw the first preview was its marketability. How would the producers promote the show? In spite of a great TV commercial, I never saw anyone from the cast appearing on television shows. If The Scottsboro Boys has anything it has a superlative score and one of the best new ballads in years: “Go Back Home.” Where were the appearances on Live with Regis and Kelly or The View to give audiences a sample? Even after protestors took on the show, no one it seems, except Whoopi Goldberg, seemed to hop on the national bandwagon championing the show and its message. 

Just a few days ago I was thanking the producers of this show and Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson for risking their shirts and I stand by that. But why are they throwing in the towel so soon? I also think it’s just a little bit Scrooge-like to basically fire a team of employees at the peak of the holiday season. It was a great gesture for the Weisslers to take on the new Kander & Ebb show, especially since the revival of Chicago has given them more money than they’ll ever need. However, it would be an even greater gesture if they put some of that money into running Scottsboro for a while longer. Considering the glorious Lyceum, a house I love, is one of the least desirable locations for any Broadway show, I can’t imagine a stop-clause had anything to do with it. Closing the show now will kill its chances at the Tony Awards in June. We saw it happen last year and the year before. For the voters: out of sight, out of mind.

Fortunately the show has a wonderful cast album of its Off-Broadway production and will no doubt become a title that will be attempted by regional theatres. I plan to see the show in the next two weeks. If you seriously care about the American musical, so should you.

Marilyn Maye: Then & Now

Ever since seeing Marilyn Maye sing a knock-out “I’m Still Here” at the NY Pops Sondheim Bash, I’ve been unable to get the performer out of my mind. I’d heard of Ms. Maye, but I had never seen her or for that matter even heard her perform before that day. Well, I was floored. The iconic anthem from Follies proved the biggest showstopper of the night, given a fabulous rendition by the singer with an interesting new arrangement by Tedd Firth.

Though Marilyn never performed on Broadway, she is forever linked with our musical theatre. Her career as a singer made her a headliner in the top supper clubs and cabarets of the 1950s and 60s. When the supper club market declined, she took on many of the great musical theatre roles like Dolly and Mame in touring and stock productions. She was also the first to record many Broadway songs for RCA – even before the original cast – such as “Cabaret.” She was also a constant presence on TV, particularly on The Tonight Show where sang 76 times.

Here is Marilyn Maye in 1967 appearing on The Hollywood Palace singing “You’re Gonna Hear From Me” and “Cabaret.”

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Cut to March 2010. Here is Marilyn singing “It’s Today” from Mame to promote her cabaret act. A lyric may go the wayside here or there, but she’s still got a powerful instrument and a sharp connection with the music and material. It’s a joy to watch her sing. She still performs regularly at the Metropolitan Room and will be appearing at the venue December 5, 6, 7.

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‘Spider-Man’ first preview on ’60 Minutes’

While the stage show was having its first preview tonight at the Foxwoods Theatre, 60 Minutes profiled the progress of the new Bono-The Edge musical Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark, based on the Marvel comic strip character. The show has experienced something of a troubled gestation over the last five years, including the death of a producer, a lack of money and the cancellation of its first opening night almost a year ago. It’s put up or shut up time for a show that is now the costliest in Broadway history. The stories of severe injuries, escalating costs and producing troubles (to say nothing of concerns for the safety of the audience) have only fueled the press coverage, much of it for the worse.

Leslie Stahl interviews Bono, The Edge and Julie Taymor about the process and gives us a first look at the effects and scenery, which looks stunning. There are excerpts from the score which don’t seem, to me, as interesting as the scenography. But that doesn’t curb my curiosity of seeing the show. First preview intermission reports (concurrent to this writing) tell that the show was stopped several times in its first act and the intermission lasted 40 minutes. People seem to be positive from their tweets and messages, in spite of the stoppages. The second act appears to have had only one stoppage, with the show getting out at 10:15, three hours and forty-five minutes after the scheduled curtain time. Seems that the frenetic energy around the show and the idea of something possibly can go wrong are drumming up interest. This TV piece shouldn’t hurt sales either.

At over $60 million, the show is going to offer nothing but the best in terms of seeing the money on the stage. Taymor is a genius when it comes to stagecraft creativity (as evidenced by her 12 year old production of The Lion King still playing to packed houses on Broadway). However, in terms of money it seems that the weekly running cost is going to be astronomical: $1 million per week. I don’t know if that sets a new record, but it is certainly the highest “nut” I’ve ever heard. Everyone involved needs a hit. The show has six weeks of previews to work on the intricate staging and technological glitches. As it progress, all eyes will be on the Foxwoods as this is easily the most anticipated (for better or worse) musical in recent memory.

The show opens January 11, 2011. I think all Broadwayites will be paying attention.

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“Dorothy”

Following the success of her Tony-winning turn in Annie and her Tony-nominated performance in Ballroom, Dorothy Loudon struck while the iron was hot and signed on for her own sitcom vehicle. The self-titled series was about Dorothy Banks, a former Broadway star, who makes a career transition into teaching drama and music at a school for girls in Connecticut and allowing Loudon ample opportunity to sing.  The sitcom pitted Loudon’s brash, vivacious persona against her stuffier colleagues, but instantly won over her students. Loudon’s co-stars were Priscilla Morrill and Kip Gilman. Two time Tony-winner Russell Nype (Call Me Madam, Goldilocks) played the antagonizing and somewhat milquetoast headmaster. 

The actors were talented, but the writers showed a lack of originality. Humor was weak, situations mundane and Loudon’s singing opportunities arose from seemingly nowhere (though pleasant they be). The series was met with indifference by critics and audiences alike. It ran from August 8 to August 22, 1979 on CBS for a grand total of four episodes.  (NBC had better luck with their 1979 girls school sitcom: The Facts of Life, which would last nine years).

Loudon returned to Broadway where she received more personal raves in Sweeney Todd, The West Side Waltz and Noises Off! over the next few seasons. Her only other primetime TV appearances were on the popular Murder She Wrote/Magnum P.I. crossover episodes in 1986.

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This is an excerpt in which Dorothy sings “There’ll Be Some Changes Made” in that riotous, full-out manner that endeared her to audiences for thirty years.

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This final clip finds Dorothy substituting for the science teacher – only to realize she’s charged with dissecting an earthworm. Hilarity ensues:

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Showstopper: “The Beauty That Drives Men Mad”

Since Some Like It Hot is one of the funniest films of all time, you’d think that a musical comedy adaptation would follow suit. Well, it didn’t but that didn’t keep Sugar from being enjoyable. Jule Styne and Bob Merrill supplied the score; Gower Champion was the director. Robert Morse and Tony Roberts starred as the down-on-their-luck musicians on the run. Elaine Joyce had the least desirable job of the seeing – trying to live up to the legacy of Monroe. The show had trouble out of town and opened in NY to mixed reviews. Styne and Merrill’s score wasn’t very original or exciting, but it was tuneful and engaging. But on the strength of the original property and the Tony-nominated lead performance of Morse, the show ran 505 performances at the Majestic. The show continues to be licensed and is occasionally revived under the film’s title.

In 1998, Morse and Roberts donned the drag one more time for the Carnegie Hall special My Favorite Broadway: The Leading Ladies where they opened the show with their first act show-stopper “The Beauty That Drives Men Mad.” They were the only men on the bill that evening (and continuing in the gender bending theme that got things started, they were introduced by Julie Andrews in her Victor/Victoria tux.

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Thankful

That there are people willing to risk their shirts on original ideas such as Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson or The Scottsboro Boys. Regardless of how one feels about shows like these (I’ve not seen Bloody, I love Scottsboro), it’s nice to see someone bucking the trend when it comes to the generalization that Broadway is just a theme park. I know that the shows started off-Broadway, but that there is enough interest in either one to push it to the Great White Way speaks volumes for artistic integrity and taking a risk regardless of what it may cost.

For the original cast album. Of anything, even if it’s lousy. By extension, I am also grateful for Masterworks Broadway and Kritzerland, who have taken it upon themselves to reissue a lot of previously unavailable show albums bringing show music to a whole new generation.

For my web designer, Chris Van Patten, who not only gave my blog an extraordinary makeover, but also keeps my sanity when it comes to every technological issue I have. And I mean every single one.

For Bernadette Peters. It goes without saying how lovely she is, but after seeing her superlative turn in A Little Night Music she just took my breath away. There are some theatre artists who remain consistently brilliant. It was a pleasure seeing Peters tackle a role that she was born to play.

That I live near Manhattan. I’m quite fortunate to be in the location I am in and cannot imagine my life without New York City.

For every opportunity I have to see live theatre in any way, shape or form. Whether I’m paying or an invited guest, I’m always grateful to see something. Even if it’s horrible, it’s a learning experience. There’s always room for growth and each show allows me the opportunity to do just that.

For my blogger friends. I always say it and I’ll say it again – they’re an awesome group of people and my sphere has grown considerably this year. The conversation is stimulating, amusing and always engaging. This year it includes many folks I have met through Twitter and seems to grow day by day. The daily discourse is something I’m always looking forward to.

For 2010 and 2011. Being Alive, kids. Being Alive.