Off-Broadway hit, Little Mary Sunshine!
Off-Broadway star (says the blurb below), Eileen Brennan.
It was 1959
and Little Mary ran concurrently with The Fantastiks,
another Off-Broadway smash,
downtown at the Orpheum Theatre, in the East Village.
This was Eileen's first big part in NYC theatre,
having made the move from California to
Washington, D.C. (Georgetown University)
and finally The Big Apple
(where she studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts).
She would go on to play
Irene Molloy in the original production of
Hello, Dolly!
And of course do tons of television and movies...
below with her Little Mary replacement,
Marion Mercer.
Bernadette Peters
is "A Beat Behind"
when she tries to re-enter the world of Broadway Dance...
in The Goodbye Girl.
Based on the Neil Simon movie of the same name
(starring Richard Dreyfus and Neil Simon's dancey wife,
Marcia Mason),
the transition to Broadway was bumpy.
Still had that Simon book, plus Michael Kidd directing
Martin Short (in his Broadway debut) and some nice songs
by Marvin Hamlisch and David Zippel.
But it closed in about 5 months.
Time Magazine called it "big stars, boffo story, bad judgements."
Martin and Bernadette were both praised,
despite "the hand they were dealt"...
If you have a chance, see the movie.
Richard Dreyfus gets to hunchback his way thru Shakespeare!
I
We're featuring 2 songs by Sutton Foster
this Sunday:
One from The Drowsy Chaperone (above), "Show Off"
and another from Thoroughly Modern Millie (below),
"Not For The Life Of Me".
Sutton is a 2 Tony Award winner
for her performances as Millie AND Reno Sweeney
in Anything Goes.
Had to add a GLAM shot of Sutton (below)...
she just celebrated her 45 birthday!
Applause wasn't the first Broadway show for
Lauren Bacall!
In 1959, she starred in Goodbye, Charlie,
and then Cactus Flower in 1965.
But now she had to sing,
in Applause and (5 years later) Woman Of The Year.
Musta worked, cuz she garnered Tonys for both!
Bette Davis, star of All About Eve, the basis of the musical,
came backstage after an Applause performance
and told Lauren,
"You're the only one who could have played the part."
In a fun twist of fate,
Ann Baxter (the film's Eve Harrington)
"replaced" Lauren when she left the production!
Thanks to a 2 On The Aisle listener,
I'm now VERY AWARE that they did a version for television in 1973,
with Lauren and Larry Hagman!
Not available commericially,
but you can see several clips of it on YouTube.
Above, curtain call with Len Cariou
(who would become Sweeney Todd just 8 years later!)
Sondra Lee and Mary Martin
as Tiger Lily and Peter Pan...
in the first live-for-TV production of Peter Pan in 1955.
It would play live again on NBC in 1956,
with a full color videotaped version following in 1960.
Side note: Sondra Lee would late play Minnie Fay in
the original production of
Hello, Dolly (1964).
Initially, Carolyn Leigh and Morris "Moose" Charlap
created songs for Peter
when it first set its sights on Broadway in 1954.
However, previews proved disappointing!
They called for reinforcements
in the way of more songs,
brought to us by
The Cavalry: Jule Styne, Betty Comden, and Adolph Green,
who wrote "Never Never Land", "Wendy",
"Hook's Waltz", and "Mysterious Lady".
Mary with Cyril Ritchard and Nana (the Nurse Maid).
Both Mary and Cyril won Tonys for their performances.
Nana was snubbed.
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