Sunday, November 18, 2018

Anyone can...



 Lee Remick,
making the cast recording of 
Anyone Can Whistle,
which opened on April 4, 1964...and closed 9 days later.
Negative reviews
(Sondheim called the reviews "humiliating" and the audiences "hostile"),
multiple revisions,
and a heart attack for one of its stars (Henry Lascoe).
Guess it was lucky to last 9 days.
Below, more studio shots of Angela Lansbury,
Goddard Lieberson, and Lee.

  Lee was 29 at the time of this production,
and had a long-standing relationship with Sondheim,
later appearing in the concert version of Follies.
 (Barbra Streisand was the producer's first pick
for the role of Fay Apple,
but Funny Girl claimed her.)

 One of "those" poses, 
Lee and Angela "whistling".
Lee died at the age of 55, but Angela storms on, at 93.
 The cast of Baby,
with music by David Shire and Richard Maltby, Jr.
Below, Liz Callaway, Catherine Cox
and Beth Fowler,
who we'll hear sing "I Want It All."






 The movie of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, 1953
(what color!!!)
with Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell,
singing "When Love Goes Wrong,"
written especially for the movie by Hoagie Carmichael and
Harold Adamson,
added to the original Broadway score by 
Jule Styne and Leo Robin.



 There have been plenty of Sondheim revues 
(Putting It Together, and Side By Side By Sondheim, just to name two), 
but I guess the world needed one more...
this one with Sondheim actually providing the narrative
(and some of the scenery).
Sondheim On Sondheim,
called a "multimedia commemorative scrapbook of his life and times",
opened for a limited engagement in 2010,
and featured Barbara Cook, Vanessa Williams, Leslie Kritzer,
Tom Wopat and others...
lots of great renditions of those classic SS songs, 
taped interviews, and video footage
(which everyone seemed to enjoy more than the music!).
 

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