Jill....with Jack to follow...

Jill Clayburgh on Broadway!

This was in 1972, the original production of Pippin

...with John Rubenstein.

Yup, Jill Clayburgh sang. But it wasn't the first time...

 In 1970, she was in The Rothchilds,

a Jerry Bock, Sheldon Harnick musical...

Born in 1944, and raised on the upper east side of Manhattan,

Jill attended Sarah Lawrence College,

then joined the Charles Street Repertory in Boston.

An early romance with Al Pacino.

 Her work in films began in the late 60s...

An Unmarried Woman (above), Silver Streak,

 Starting Over (below with Burt Reynolds), La Luna...

a Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival in 1978,

and 2 Academy Award nominations.

 Television movies and appearances included

Nip/Tuck and Dirty Sexy Money.

Lots of nominations, but no Oscars, Emmys or Tonys.

Jill returned to Broadway in 1984

for a performances of Design For Living,

with Raul Julia and Frank Langella...

and would continued to do stage work for many years.

 

 Her last film, in 2011, was The Bridesmaids,

here with her "daughter" in the film,

Kristen Wiig.

1944 - 2010

Liza and Judy... and those men.

 New York, New York,

directed by Martin Scorsese,

is deemed a "musical drama film" with original Kander and Ebb selections

and standards of the 1920s and 30s.

Scorsese did it right after Taxi Driver

with a budget of $14 million.

 It starred Liza as singer, Francine Evans,

and Robert DeNiro as Jimmy Doyle...saxophonist and band leader.

Some nice musical moments, but the reviewers tanked it 

and the audience didn't come.

Scorsese suffered depression (and drug problems)

after the rank reception.

 A Star Is Born, 1954, was called Judy's Comeback

(she hadn't made a movie in 4 years) and it was a stunner;

she was nominated for Best Actress, and everyone thought her a shoe-in.

A camera crew was sent to her hospital room

where she was recovering from the birth of her son, Joey,

to capture the moment (and her live acceptance speech) should she win.

But the award went to Grace Kelly for Country Girl...

a steal that Jimmy Durante would call

"the biggest robbery since Brink's."

Director George Cukor originally wanted Cary Grant to co-star,

but Cary was set on traveling with his wife

and didn't trust Garland to reliably hold up her end of the film.

Humphrey Bogart, Frank Sinatra, and Stewart Granger

were all considered for the role,

but James Mason was ultimately signed.

Cukor had to put up with a very unstable leading lady,

with chemical dependancies, weight gains, and mood swings.

And half way thru production, 

they decided to shoot the thing in Cinemascope,

which meant scrapping everything and starting from scratch.

The movie was considered a box-office disappointment:

It cost over $5 million to make, and did not recoup its cost.

But the critics and audiences loved it.

Time Magazine said that Garland

"gives what is just about the greatest one-woman show in modern movie history." 

Playlist for Sunday, October 4, 2015: That Man/Woman, Venus/Mars Thing

Ahh...Broadway stereotypes!

Man Vs Woman, that's the theme of this Sunday's 2 On The Aisle, and all the old gender myths raise their tangled, unwashed heads.

Primitive? Pretty? A Dope? An Angel? Find one...get one (evidently not with a gun!)...marry one... have one for tossing out your garbage...lose one...never get one back...what the hell IS one, and what can you do with one?  Broadway, in its infinite wisdom, asks and answers all of these questions and more...sort of.  And as you can predict, we have some dated short answers, some WRONG True and False, and the multiple choice....sheesh. Those Sometimes, Always, or Never are a bitch.

So don't yell at me if the lady songs sound unliberated, or if the men are all machismo this and judgmental that. Broadway's range is like our own: Cranky before that first cuppa joe, laissez faire at twilight with the third iced gin. It works.  LOTS of songs, cuz these oldies are short, 2 minute "affairs," so listen in, grit your teeth, and maybe find a new fav(e). :)


You Are Woman (Sydney Chaplin, Barbra Streisand, Funny Girl)
It Takes A Woman (David Burns, Ensemble, Hello Dolly!)
What You Don't Know About Women (Randy Graff, Kay McClelland, City Of
             Angels)
Pretty Women (Len Cariou, Edmund Lyndeck, Sweeney Todd)
How To Handle A Woman (Richard Burton, Camelot)
She Acts Like A Woman Should (Marilyn Monroe, The Very Best Of Marilyn
             Monroe)
A Woman Is A Sometime Thing (Harry Belafonte, Porgy and Bess)
There's Always A Woman (Carol Burnett, Ruthie Henshall, Putting It
             Together)
Who's That Woman? (Phyllis Newman, Ensemble, Follies)
She's Not Enough Woman For Me (Richard Kiley, Leonard Stone, Redhead)
Only An Older Woman (Isabel Keating, The Boy From Oz)
There Never Was A Woman (Don Ameche, Goldilocks)
The Woman For The Man (Jack Cassidy, It's A Bird, It's A Plane, It's Superman)
Kind Of Woman (Jill Clayburgh, Pippin)
Sobbin' Women (Howard Keel, Ensemble, Seven Brides For Seven Brothers)
One Last Hope (Danny DeVito, Hercules)
Be Our Guest (Jerry Orbach, Angela Lansbury, Ensemble, Beauty And The
             Beast)
Les Poissons (Rene Auberjonois, The Little Mermaid)
A Girl Worth Fighting For (Harvey Fierstein, Jerry Tondo, Gedde Watanbe,
             Lea Salonga, Mulan)
The Siamese Cat Song (Peggy Lee, Lady And The Tramp)
You Can't Get A Man With A Gun (Ethel Merman, Annie Get Your Gun)
Find Me A Primitive Man (May Devere, Ensemble, Fifty Million Frenchman)
Find Yourself A Man (Kay Medford, Jean Stapleton, Danny Meehan, Funny
             Girl)
Marry The Man Today (Isabel Bigley, Vivian Blaine, Guys And Dolls)
There Once Was A Man (John Raitt, Janis Paige, The Pajama Game)
The Man I Used To Be (William Johnson, Pipe Dream)
What Can You Do With A Man? (Bibi Osterwald, The Boys From Syracuse)
Dirty Old Man (Ruth Kobart, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The
             Forum)
Right Hand Man (Heidi Blickenstaff, Brian D'Arcy James, Something Rotten!)
The Gentleman Is A Dope (Lisa Kirk, Allegro)
What Is A Man? (Vivienne Seagal, Pal Joey)
Better With A Man (Jefferson Mays, Bryce Pinkham, A Gentleman's Guide To
             Love And Murder)
The Man I Love (Liza Minelli, New York, New York)
The Man That Got Away (Judy Garland, A Star Is Born)

Frankenstein Producers....Mel's Extravaganzas

Roger Bart, Christopher Fitzgerald, and Sutton Foster...

in Young Frankenstein, 2007.

It had a book by Thomas Meehan and Mel Brooks,

and music/lyrics by Brooks

(with a great deal of help from Glen Kelly,

who is credited in both of Mel's shows as "Musical Supervisor").

Despite mixed reviews, it lasted over a year on Broadway...

Cloris Leachman threatened to reprise her role of Frau Blucher,

but she was sedated, I mean, unavailable after all!

The Producers, just 6 years earlier,

had more success...with a record-breaking 12 Tony awards,

and a run of 2,500 performances.

Above, the "I Wanna Be A Producer" number...

what a simple set!

Mathew Broderick as Leo,

whose voice is almost passable.

Partners in crime, Nathan and Mathew...

"Where Did We Go Right?"

Look, he's wearing a cardboard belt!

Guys and Viv

 Vivian Blaine was one of the few actors to participate in

both the stage and film versions of Guys And Dolls...

Stubby Kaye, B.S. Pully, and Johnny Silver

(gangsters all!) were the others.

Gene Kelly and Grace Kelly were Goldwyn's first choices

for the leads, 

and Marilyn Monroe wanted to play Adelaide.

Well, we got Brando, Jean (both of whom did their own singing),

Frank, and Viv.

Not too shabby!

 Take Back Your Mink...

 ...and Pet Me Poppa.

Frank Loesser created the character of Adelaide 

when he realized Viv would be miscast as Sister Sarah.

I'll say.

 Vivian with the prettiest medicine "chest" ever...

Adelaide's Lament.

The original Broadway production, 1950,

began with a book by Jo Swerling...

but the producers were unhappy with it,

so Frank Loesser suggested radio writer Abe Burrows

who captured Damon Runyon's language and characters

perfectly. 

Above, Vivian in the "Bushel and a Peck" number,

which was jettisoned from the movie version.

(Note bushel...well, okay, it's a basket!)

And of course, those Hot Box "Dolls"...

Extra...extra...just look at the Newsies!

 Led by Kara Lindsay (above center), 

and Jeremy Jordan (below center, in blue)

Newsies landed on Broadway in 2012.

The Disney movie that superseded it was less than successful,

but the staged musical proved a hit, thanks to 

Harvey Fierstein's book and additional songs by the team of 

Alan Menken and Jack Feldman:

the fastest Disney musical on Broadway to turn a profit,

despite costing 5 mill to mount.

 Ben Brantley raved.

Tonys for Choreography (Christopher Gattelli)

and Score (Alan Menken and Jack Feldman),

but Once scooped the Best Musical award.

Capathia Jenkins wowed 'em as Medda Larkin.

Two years on Broadway...now to catch the national tour!

Playlist for Sunday, September 27, 2015: (Not) Raining Violets

Whattaya do when you write a show based on the weather, and the weather doesn't cooperate?  After last Saturday's deluge, and the weekend BEFORE that (two days of drip and drizzle), rainy weather seemed foremost in the forecast and uppermost in my mind. So here we are this week, with three sets of Soon It's Gonna, Singin' In The, Little Drops Of, On Prom Night, In Spain, and In My Heart, and there is NO RAIN in the forecast for the ENTIRE WEEK!  I will be thought of, when I'm thought of at all, as a witch doctor, shaking her carved stick at the sun and prompting the clouds to gather. I'm really sorry if that turns out happening.  Well...it WOULD be nice to have power like that. Clout with the weather gods.

But it will probably stay sunny, and this playlist will just come off as ill-timed or asinine.  There are some goodies though!  Vivian Blaine as Adelaide, Carol Burnett as Princess Fred, Nathan and Mathew being Producers...plus two musicals that are "new" to 2 On The Aisle: Newsies and The Mystery Of Edwin Drood.  No rain there!  See???

So meanwhile, just to be safe, pack an umbrella...for Bernadette, Judy, Gene, Fred ...cuz it's Broadway. 


Carrying The Banner (Jeremy Jordan, Ensemble, Newsies)
A Bushel And A Peck (Vivian Blaine, Ensemble, Guys And Dolls)
Pet Me Poppa (Vivian Blaine, Ensemble, Guys And Dolls)
Adelaide's Lament (Vivian Blaine, Guys And Dolls)
Take Back Your Mink (Vivian Blaine, Ensemble, Guys And Dolls)
Soon It's Gonna Rain (Rita Gardner, Kenneth Nelson, The Fantasticks)
Rain On The Roof (Ensemble, Follies)
The Rain In Spain (Julie Andrews, Rex Harrison, Robert Coote, My Fair Lady)
It's Raining On Prom Night (Carole Demas, Grease)
Very Soft Shoes (Matt Mattox, Once Upon A Mattress)
Sensitivity (Jane White, Robert Weil, Once Upon A Mattress)
Normandy (Harry Snow, Matt Mattox, Anne Jones, Once Upon A Mattress)
The Swamps Of Home (Carol Burnett, Once Upon A Mattress)
Isn't This A Lovely Day (To Be Caught In The Rain)? (Fred Astaire, Top Hat)
Singin' In The Rain (Gene Kelly, Singin' In The Rain)
Little Drops Of Rain (Judy Garland, Gay Purr-ee)
Somewhere Over The Rainbow (Judy Garland, The Wizard Of Oz)
Welcome To Transylvania (Ensemble, Young Frankenstein)
Together Again (Roger Bart, Christopher Fitzgerald, Young Frankenstein)
I Wanna Be A Producer (Mathew Broderick, Ensemble, The Producers)
Haben Sie Gehort Das Deutsche Band? (Brad Oscar, The Producers)
Where Did We Go Right? (Nathan Lane, Mathew Broderick, The Producers)
There You Are (George Rose, Company, The Mystery Of Edwin Drood)
Off To The Races (George Rose, Jerome Dempsey, Stephen Glavin, The
             Mystery Of Edwin Drood)
Don't Quit While You're Ahead (Cleo Laine, Betty Buckley, Company,
             The Mystery Of Edwin Drood)
Raining In My Heart (Bernadette Peters, Dames At Sea)
Look To The Rainbow (Ella Logan, Finian's Rainbow)
I'm Always Chasing Rainbows (Debbie Reynolds, Irene)
That Terrific Rainbow (June Havoc, Pal Joey)
Sante Fe (Jeremy Jordan, Andrew Keenan-Bolger, Newsies)
Watch What Happens (Kara Lindsay, Newsies)
That's Rich (Capathia Jenkins, Ensemble, Newsies)