Wednesday, December 13, 2017

Broadway Babes to Warm Your Cockles

 A mini tribute this Sunday
to Carol Burnett,
born in San Antonio, Texas in 1933, and
raised by her grandmother in Hollywood.
Her "big break" came in 1959 with Once Upon A Mattress,
as Princess Winifred (below).
And that was the beginning of a career that would
include television, film, Broadway, and concert performances.
Carol will turn 85 this coming April. 
 We'll hear
"The Swamps of Home"
from Mattress...

 From Fade Out - Fade In,
"You Mustn't Be Discouraged"
(below).
And above, I believe, is the Warner Brother's Seal of Approval.


 From the film version of Annie,
Carol as Miss Hannigan...brilliant casting! 

 And I couldn't resist including this pic
from one of the many times Carol teamed up with Julie Andrews
for live concerts and television appearances.


 Tom Wopat 
(yup, Luke Duke of the Hazzard duo)
has been theatre-ing and singing ever since he went into re-runs.
He hit Broadway in 2011 with Catch Me If You Can,
in which he played Frank Abagnale Sr.
(below with Aaron Tveit).
We'll hear an outtake from that show,
"Fifty Checks"
which Tom later recorded on his solo album
Consider It Swung.
 

 We'll also sample "The Last Night of the Year"
and "Finishing The Hat" from the revue
Sondheim On Sondheim.
Below, the Dukes: Tom and John Schneider,
back in the day.




 Kelli O'Hara's Babe (above) with The Factory Girls
 is "Not At All In Love"
in the revival of The Pajama Game, 2006,
which received the Best Revival Tony award that year.


 And in our honeymoon set,
Mary Martin and Robert Preston 
in I Do! I Do!
which was the story of a marriage over the span of 45 years,
1895 - 1945.
Mary and Robert starred in the national tour as well
(it began in Rochester, NY!),
but there were several interesting "replacements," 
like Carol Burnett and Rock Hudson,
and Carol Lawrence and Gordon McCrea.
 We'll hear "The Honeymoon Is Over"!

The NYTimes called Mary's voice
"like red wine at room temperature"...
and Robert won the Tony! :)

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