Just for ME!

In the 1998 revival of Little Me

(that Cy Coleman/Carolyn Leigh goodie),

were Martin Short and Faith Prince.

It didn't last long on Bway, only 99 performances and it evaporated,

but we did get some interesting re-dos of the songs,

like the title one.

Bob Fosse choreographed the original production of 1963, 

and was the only Tony Winner.

On book, Neil Simon! 

 

 

Tammy Grimes was 46 when she got a "come-back to Broadway" opportunity, playing Dorothy Brock in 42nd Street (1980).

Tammy was a two-time Tony Winner

for her work starring in The Unsinkable Molly Brown and Private Lives.

Replacements for Tammy 

(well, the production went on for almost 3,500 performances!) 

were Elizabeth Allen, Dolores Gray, and Millicent Martin.

Below, Lee Roy Reams, Lauren Bacall (backstage visitor), and Tammy.

From the 4th Broadway revival of Man Of La Mancha,

we'll hear Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio (who starred as Aldonza/Dulcinea opposite Brian Stokes Mitchell)

singing "What Does He Want Of Me?"

This revival was done in 2002.

Previous Broadway productions starred Richard Kiley (who did 2 productions)

and Raul Julia.

Music: Mitch Leigh and Joe Darion.

Robin Williams recording the voice of the Genie in 

Aladdin, the Disney animated film from 1992.

At first, John Candy, Steve Martin, and Eddie Murphy were thought of for the role. 

But Robin was won over after a scene in which the Genie sprouts 2 heads and argues with himself!

A lot of his dialogue was actually ad-libbed (surprise, surprise!);

he supposedly improvised 52 characters over the course of the movie.

We'll hear "Friend Like Me" written by Al Menken and Howard Ashman.

On the MGM side, we'll hear a ME from

For Me And My Gal, which was a Busby Berkeley flick from 1942. 

It was the first time Judy Garland (age 20 when it was released) 

got to actually play an adult,

annnnnd it was Gene's film debut.

He was 29, having done Pal Joey on Broadway, 

and choreographed Best Foot Forward (the off-Broadway production), so he was hardly a newbie!

Music was a lot of oldies from various tin-pan-alley songsters.

 

This pair would go on to do The Pirate and Summer Stock.

Playlist For Sunday, May 30, 2021: Doin' the Time Warp

Well, the lusty month of May is almost over. It lasted all of 47 minutes, as will all of these glorious HOT months soon to come...and even those crispy/crunchy autumn days and the holidays will fly by (oh, the social calendar!). Then WHAM, the brakes slam on and we time warp into S L O W and C O L D.  But let's not think about THAT:  Now is prime time sun und fun and summer hours and biking and tans and pools. Or almost. Keeping looking up, as Kevin Williams says. We won't have to wait long! :)  

 

 And I'm realizing as I peak at June on my "desk calendar" (yup, a frickin' hard-copy calendar with Broadway Flops as the theme...thank you, daughter!), that June 1 marks my 10 year anniversary. A decade ago come next Tuesday, I moved out of my NYC "flat" with a broken U-Haul, piano, potted palm and over-played cds, and reinserted myself into my hometown. Speaking of time warps, it seems about 10 months ago, not 10 years. Add to this, in about 5 months, another landmark...at age 66, I will have lived half my time in the "country" and half in the "city". So in true "Uptown, Downtown"/CityMouseCountryMouse style, I will truly have had a foot in 2 very different zip codes. And happy in either? Ahhhhh, there's the rub. 

 

 So while I cogitate on all of that, and deem it profound or trivial, the fact that I've been allowed to twirl Broadway at you for almost a decade (and keep myself busy and averted and just avoid a lot of other chores!) is pretty damn marvy. 

 

Gimme Gimme! (sings Sutton!)

Reading this over, it seems the emphasis is on 2 things: TIME, which speeds  or slows based on our enjoyment of said time. And ME. As I narcissistically ponder my navel and dwell on which Lucy or Jessy I am. I chose to do a ME Edition this week...but TIME was a close 2nd. So maybe that's for another TIME, as in the following week? We'll have to see. No promises. Not one. But the one promise (always) is Broadway at its Best!

 

The Three Of Us (Michael McKean, The Pajama Game)

Ya Got Me (Nancy Walker, On The Town)

You're Getting To Be A Habit With Me (Tammy Grimes, 42nd Street)

They Can't Take That Away From Me (Fred Astaire, Shall We Dance?)

Me And My Girl (Robert Lindsay, Emma Thompson, Me And My Girl)

Bring Me My Bride (Ron Holgate, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum)

Friend Like Me (Robin Williams, Aladdin)

It's Me (Isabel Bigley, Joan McCracken, Me & Juliet)

This Isn't Me (Daniel H. Jenkins, Big)

Come To Me, Bend To Me (John Gustafson, Brigadoon)

Follow Me (Marjorie Smith, Camelot)

As Long As He Needs Me (Georgia Brown, Oliver!)

Make The Man Love Me (Marcia Van Dyke, Johnny Johnston, A Tree Grows In Brooklyn)

For Me & My Gal (Gene Kelly, Judy Garland, For Me & My Gal)

No Man Left For Me (Dee Hoty, Will Rogers Follies)

There Ain't No Flies On Me (Gwen Verdon, Ensemble, New Girl In Town)

The Moon And Me (Kevin Chamberlain, The Addams Family)

Show Me (Lauren Ambrose, Jordan Donica, My Fair Lady)

Hey, Look Me Over (Jessica Molaskey, Make Believe)

Mean To Me (Nell Carter, Ain't Misbehavin')

But Not For Me (Bobby Short, K-RA-ZY For Gershwin)

Just You, Just Me (Judy Garland, Live At Carnegie Hall)

What Does He Want Of Me? (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Man Of LaMancha)

How About Me? (Judy Holiday, Trouble Is A Man)

If Only You Had Cared For Me (Frank Thornton, Ursula Smith, Me And My Girl)

Someone To Watch Over Me (Dawn Upshaw, Oh, Kay!)

Little Me (Faith Prince, Little Me)

The Real Me (Eileen Herlie, All American)

Love, You Didn't Do Right By Me (Rosemary Clooney, White Christmas)

Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone (Doris Day)

Hold Me, Hold Me, Hold Me (Dolores Gray, Two On The Aisle)

She Loves Me (Zachary Levi, She Loves Me)

You Made Me Love You (Monte Markham, Debbie Reynolds, Irene)

Gimme Gimme (Sutton Foster, Thoroughly Modern Millie)

Take Me Along (Jackie Gleason, Walter Pigeon, Take Me Along)

Birthday Randomness: Leslie and Bob!

A face ya gotta love...Robert Morse, born in Newton, Mass.

on May 18, 1931.

Winner of a Tony for his "not really trying" in 

How To Succeed.

Below, with Bonnie Scott, his "Rosemary!"

In Sugar, with Tony Roberts.

With Carol Channing, who he starred with in 

Sugar Babies

(replacing Mickey Rooney in the original production).

With E.J. Peaker on the one-season "musical" sit-com, That's Life.

As Bertram Cooper in Mad Men. Loved the "soft shoe" dance (Bert's final "number")!

Robert just turned 90...

Leslie Uggams' natal day is May 25, when she'll turn 77.

She was born and raised in Harlem, and

attended the Professional Children's School of New York and Julliard.

Like Robert, she's a Tony Winner...due to her work in

Hallelujah, Baby! 

Leslie started acting on Ethel Water's TV show, Beulah, 

playing Ethel's niece, at the age of 6. 

Below, with Dick Van Dyke, on her OWN show in 1969.

With Chita Rivera and Dorothy Loudon, when they teamed up to do "Jerry's Girls" in 1985. Other Broadway accomplishments include replacing Patti LuPone in Anything Goes, and playing Muzzy in Thoroughly Modern Millie.

Playlist For Sunday, May 23, 2021: Hallelujah, Baby!

Wow. This is shaping up to be a Week (note capitalization and emphatic punctuation here)!  

Weather: Scrumptious

Work: Half Days! Summer hours! 

Health: Vertical. Breathing. No twinges in the meninges.

Finances: Presently solvent.

Chores: Avoidable! 

Broadway: OPENING! 

 

So this'll be short, cuz we gotta grab all these goodies and run with 'em. I may even score some theatre tickets down in the Big Apple...to see Hugh and Sutton? Who knows, why the HELL NOT!?!?! 

 

This week: Prime Time Classic Bway. It's Robert Morse's 90th birthday this week (How To Succeed!), it WILL be Meredith Willson's natal day NEXT week (cue that Music Man), plus Leslie Uggams turns 77 (Hallelujah to THAT baby!), so there'll be the usual plethora of classics/eccentrics/flopperooonies, with butter cream on top...you name it, Kim'll play it (or bake it)!

 

 So tune in, or if you can't make our Sunday matinees, remember 2 On The Aisle editions can be found on Jazz901.org, hiding in the Audio Vault. Go to Listen and in the drop down menu, just click on Audio Vault, and THERE I'll be!  Thousands of 2OTAs just waiting for your ears to enjoy. Or question. :)

Life's a ball. If only you'd know it, Birdie. Or what's that quote from Auntie Mame: Life's a banquet, and some poor suckers are starving to death. Have an egg roll already. You can store them in those sleeves.

My Own Morning (Leslie Uggams, Hallelujah, Baby!)

How to (Robert Morse, How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying)

Coffee Break (Charles Nelson Reilly, Claudette Sutherland, How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying)

Rosemary (Robert Morse, Bonnie Scott, How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying)

Brotherhood Of Man (Robert Morse, Sammy Smith, Company, How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying)

I Could Be Happy With You (Julie Andrews, John Hewar, The Boy Friend)

Won't You Charleston With Me?(Ann Wakefield, Bob Scheerer, The Boy Friend)

A Room In Bloomsbury (Julie Andrews, John Hewar, The Boy Friend)

It's Never Too Late (Geoffrey Hibbert, Dilys Lay, The Boy Friend)

Bad Companions (Margaret Hamilton, Pat Stanley, Ensemble, Goldilocks)

Lament For Ten Men (Faith Prince, Male Ensemble, Breakfast At Tiffany's)

Someday They Will Thank Me (Nick Wyman, Desperate Measures)

That Dirty Old Man (Mary Testa, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way Forum)

Dirty Rotten Number (John Lithgow, Norbert Leo Butz, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels)

Stranded Again (Charles Rule, Ensemble, On The Twentieth Century)

I've Got It All (Madeline Kahn, John Cullum, On The Twentieth Century)

Repent (Imogene Coca, On The Twentieth Century)

On The Twentieth Century (Ensemble, On The Twentieth Century)

Look What Happened To Mabel (Bernadette Peters, Ensemble, Mack & Mabel)

When Mabel Comes In The Room (Company, Mack & Mabel)

Time Heals Everything (Bernadette Peters, Mack & Mabel)

Call Me Savage (Carol Burnett, Dick Patterson, Fade Out - Fade In)

I'm With You (Carol Burnett, Jack Cassidy, Fade Out - Fade In)

You Mustn't Be Discouraged (Tiger Haynes, Carol Burnett, Fade Out - Fade In)

Watch My Dust (Robert Hooks, Hallelujah, Baby!)

Talking To Yourself (Leslie Uggams, Robert Hooks, Allen Case, Hallelujah, Baby!)

Witches' Brew (Leslie Uggams, Barbara Sharma, Marilyn Cooper, Hallelujah, Baby!)

Iowa Stubborn (Ensemble, The Music Man)

Pick-A-Little, Talk-A-Little (Ensemble, The Music Man)

The Wells Fargo Wagon (Eddie Hodges, Ensemble, The Music Man)

Lida Rose/Will I Ever Tell You? (The Buffalo Bills Barbershop Quartet, Barbara Cook, The Music Man)

Seventy-Six Trombones (Robert Preston, Company, The Music Man)

 

New to 2: Divorce and Oscar!

Sandy Wilson, born Alexander Galbraith Wilson,

was born on May 19, 1924, in Sale, Manchester, England.

That made him too young to experience the Roaring Twenties in all their glory,

but that's the musical style he gravitated to.

"I was brought up with my cradle being rocked to the Charleston"!

While attending Oxford, he (of course) wrote and produced student shows, later studied at the Old Vic Theater School,

and followed that up with song-writing for revues in the West End.

His first (and best known) hit was The Boy Friend...which ran for over 2,0000 performances in the West End, christened "as English as muffins and monocles".  It crossed the great pond in 1954, where it starred Julie Andrews and John Hewer, above.  

 According to the New York Times, it got everybody Charleston-ing again!

Best known songs from the show:

I Could Be Happy With You, A Room In Bloomsbury, and

Won't You Charleston With Me?

Sandy wrote “Divorce Me, Darling!” in 1964, a sequel to The Boy Friend,

now a spoof of 1930s musicals, and a look-back at the same characters, now old/wiser/sadder(??) in the Depression. 

It didn't fair quite so well (one critic called it "relentlessly incomprehensible").

Never got to Broadway, but it did get a production in the West End,

and a lovely cast recording in 1997, after it was produced

at the Chichester Festival. 

 

Sandy also wrote the musical "Valmouth", "As Dorothy Parker Once Said", and "Caprice"...

and contributed material for revues like Hermoine Gingold's "Slings and Arrows" and "Oranges And Lemons."

His autobiography is titled "I Could Be Happy".

He passed away in August of 2014, at the age of 90.

 

Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty

have written great music for the likes of Ragtime, Once On This Island,

Lucky Stiff, My Favorite Year, Anastasia...and A Man Of No Importance.

This last one is a "new to 2 on the Aisle" show,

which, though it did not make it to Broadway,

had a successful debut at Lincoln Center back in 2002.

It starred Roger Rees as bus conductor Alfie Byrne,

and has some delightful, Irish-flavored melodies, IMHO.

The supporting cast: Faith Prince, Steve Pasquale, Jessica Molasky,

Ronn Carroll, and Charles Keating.

In researching this musical, I found out that Roger passed away in 2015...I knew him from films like Frida (below), Robin Hood: Men In Tights,, and television (Cheers, West Wing),

but of course he was a stage actor, first and foremost.

Case in point: An Olivier AND a Tony for his work in 

The Life And Advertures Of Nicholas Nickleby.

 

With Selma Hayak in Frida...

 

...and with Ian McKellen in Waiting For Godot.

1944-2015

Playlist For Sunday, May 16, 2021: Brain-Dumping...and dropping!

There really IS no business like show business.

Flappers revisited are flappers no longer?

Lights! Music! Song!  (Broadway reopens, baby!)

 

The above is part of an often long and sometimes anxiety-inducing "brain dump" of blog musings (and stressy To-Do chores) I've had as I carve and truss up the playlist for this Sunday's edition. Whenever skies look grey to me and I'm starting to stress/add grey hairs/sprout a new wrinkle (in time), I do a brain dump, a list of everything, and I mean everything, I think about and/or have to do. From the profound to the inane. Consider The Meaning of Life right next to It's Recycle Week!  Change the Cat Litter is cheek-by-jowl with ...well, most of my thoughts run to the inane, I'll admit.

 

 

But BROADWAY! It reopens in September! Fingers crossed, all things MUSICAL will "get ready to rumble," and Doubtfire and Six and Ain't Too Proud (all things new, old, borrowed, blue) will premier or revitalize after Labor-Dazing! Huzzah!

And that's "a profound!"

 

 

On the inane but amusing side, I'll have 2 new shows in the list (I've got a little list!)...well, new to me and possibly to you: Divorce Me, Darling and A Man Of No Importance. The first is a sequel to Sandy Wilson's The Boy Friend, which was Julie Andrew's Broadway debut back in 1954. Well, come 1965, Sandy revisited those same characters, to ogle at their "lots" 10 years later, no longer the giddy 20-somethings of the Flapper Age, but now mired in the Depression, and (occasionally) questioning their lives, as much as flappers can (but I'm being judgey). However, it's still a Sandy Wilson musical, so can the Charleston really be off-stage for long? Huzzah!

 

 A Man Of No Importance (cue Oscar) is one of those Lynn Ahren/Stephen Flaherty shows, which had a short but effective run at Lincoln Center, back in 2002, and I'm loving it. All those tasty Irish flavorings (it's set in Dublin) and Roger Rees to boot! ANNND since I threatened to play more Ahren/Flaherty shows a few weeks back, I will make good on that threat and add a soupcon of Ragtime, Anastasia, and Lucky Stiff.

 

Roger Rees who starred in the LC production.

 Plus more. Always more. 

So take a gander. And maybe do your own Brain Dump. Just don't throw your pre-frontal out with the bath water. That can happen. :)
 

 

There's No Business Like Show Business (Ensemble, Annie Get Your Gun)

Another Op'nin, Another Show (Ensemble, Kiss Me Kate)

Wunderbar (Alfred Drake, Patricia Morison, Kiss Me Kate)

We Open In Venice (Alfred Drake, Patricia Morison, Harold Lang, Lisa Kirk, Kiss Me Kate)

Bianca (Harold Lang, Kiss Me Kate)

Someone To Dance With (Tim Flavin, Divorce Me, Darling)

Whatever Happened To Love? (Ruthie Henshall, Nicola Keen, Ann Sidney, Samantha George, Divorce Me, Darling)

Lights! Music! (Liliane Montevecchi, Linzi Hateley, Divorce Me, Darling)

Our Father (Jessica Molaskey, Company, A Man Of No Importance)

Love Who You Love (Roger Rees, A Man Of No Importance)

The Cuddles That Mary Gave (Ronn Carrol, A Man Of No Importance)

Art (Roger Rees, Ensemble, A Man Of No Importance)

Rita's Confession (Mary Testa, Jason Graae, Lucky Stiff)

Monte Carlo! (Patrick Quinn, Lucky Stiff)

Speaking French (Deborah Gravitte, Evan Pappas, Company, Lucky Stiff)

Nice (Judy Blazer, Evan Pappas, Lucky Stiff)

Journey To The Past (Christy Altomare, Anastasia)

Land Of Yesterday (Caroline O'Connor, Anastasia)

Paris Holds The Key (To Your Heart)(John Bolton, Derek Klena, Christy Altomare, Anastasia)

Buffalo Nickel Photoplay, Inc. (Peter Friedman, Ragtime)

Sarah Brown Eyes (Brian Stokes Mitchell, Audra McDonald, Ragtime)

Make Them Hear You (Brian Stokes Mitchell, Ragtime)

Show People (Debra Monk, Company, Curtains)

There's No Business Like Show Business (Ethel Merman, There's No Business Like Show Business)

The Girl In The Show (Carol Channing, Show Girl)

Show Train (Ensemble, Two On The Aisle)

The Picture Show (Kirk McDonald, Christy Carlson Romano, Parade)

The Late, Late Show (Nathan Lane, Do Re Mi)

I Love A Film Cliche (A Day In Hollywood/A Night In The Ukraine)

There's No Business Like Show Business (Tom Wopat, Bernadette Peters, Annie Get Your Gun)

Show Tune (Charles Nelson Reilly, Dody Goodman, Ensemble, Parade)

Wanna Sing A Show Tune (Michael Feinstein)

There's No Business Like Show Business (Elaine Stritch, Elaine Stritch At Liberty)

 

 

 

Ode To Kay!

 Margaret Kathleen Regan (aka Kay Medford) was born on 

September 14, 1919, in the Bronx.

Irish-American parents, James and Mary, left Kay an orphan in her teen years (how? no clue! no bread crumbs!),

and Kay began working in nightclubs (as a waitress),

and later as a comedienne, working the Borsht Belt resorts of the Catskills.

Her first "act" was doing impersonations of celebrities, 

She started touring with that gig in 1949.

 

Below, Kay as Rose Brice, mother of Fanny (played by Babs Streisand), in Funny Girl, both the Broadway and movie versions. 

 She got 2 nice nominations out of that role,

a Tony nod for Best Featured Actress in a Musical,

and an Academy Award nomination.

 

Above with Vincent Gardenia, in the 1977 flop, Fire Sale.

But we're getting ahead of ourselves!

During the 1940s, Kay took small parts in Hollywood movies, like Maisie Gets Her Man and The Picture Of Dorian Gray.

Her Broadway debut was in Paint Your Wagon,1951, in which she played Cherry.

Bye Bye Birdie (the musical) cast her as Dick Van Dyke's mom (above, tho she lost out on the movie version of that mom, to Maureen Stapleton), then Carousel, A Hole In The Head, Mr. Wonderful, Funny Girl...and then back to movies (A Face In The Crowd, Ensign Pulver, BUtterfield 8) and television.

As Kay aged, she was often cast a.) older than she actually was, and b.) as the perfect Jewish Mother, which her Irish Catholic self found very funny.

A Face In The Crowd

2 Broadway performances:

Above, with Bob Fosse in Pal Joey,

and below, in Woody Allen's Don't Drink The Water, her last Broadway show.

 

Here on Dean Martin's variety show, where she was a "regular".

Above with Howard Cosell and Dino!

 

Kay with Susan O'Connor, making a guest appearance on Love American Style (I can still remember that show's theme song, and it's driving me slightly mad!).

Other television appearances included Marcus Welby, M.D., Ben Casey, The Partridge Family, and Kojak...and many more! 

Medford's last performance was on an episode of Barney Miller, in 1980. She died later that same year of cancer, at the age of 60.