Little Miss Brennan!

Eileen Brennan was born in Los Angeles in1932

and her "first big break" was starring in Little Mary Sunshine,

a parody of the operettas of Sigmund Romberg and Victor Herbert.

It opened off-Broadway in 1959 and ran for over 1000 performances.

(On the right, Eileen with love interest, William Graham, as 

Captain "Big Jim" Warington)

     

 In 1964, Eileen created the role of Miss Molloy in Hello Dolly!

A beautiful soprano voice, that would become overshadowed by

her talents as an actress and comedienne.

At the top, singing Elegance with her co-stars,

Charles Nelson Reilly, Jerry Dodge, and Sondra Lee.

 The Last Picture Show...1971.

             

Murder by Death...with David Niven, Maggie Smith and Peter Falk

(among others!), in 1976.

 Private Benjamin (1980)...brought Eileen a new generation

of fans...as well as a best supporting actress Oscar nomination,

a TV spin-off, a Golden Globe, and an Emmy.

 Clue (in which Eileen played Mrs. Peacock)

came in 1985...3 years after a debilitating car accident.

Guest appearances on All in the Family, Murder She Wrote,

7th Heaven, Will & Grace, and many others

kept Eileen in the public eye.

She passed away in 2013, at the age of 80.

Tammy Lee..."Lyric Baritone"

 Born in 1934 in Massachusetts,

Tammy Lee Grimes studied acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York,

and was "discovered" in a nightclub act by Noel Coward.

He cast her in Look After Lulu!,

and thus began a life-long connection.

 

 In 1960, she scored a major hit as 

The Unsinkable Molly Brown,

winning a Tony for her performance.

 

With Harve Presnell...in Unsinkable!

He was the only actor from the Broadway show to be cast in the film version,

and Tammy's role went first to Shirley MacClaine, then Debbie Reynolds.

 In 1956, Tammy married Christopher Plummer;

they had one daughter, Amanda Plummer, and divorced in 1960.

 Tammy at the 1961 Tonys...

with Cleavon Little, who won for his performance in Purlie, 

Lauren Bacall, 

Tammy who won forUnsinkable Molly Brown, 

and Fritz Weaver, nominated for his role in All American.

Lee Roy Reams, Lauren Bacall, and Tammy 

back stage at 42nd Street, 1980.

 Veteran of Noel Coward plays,

her own television series, voice-over work,

and myriad stage, film and tv appearances,

Tammy performs a one-woman show,

at the age of 81.

Unsinkable, with a dash of bitters...

We haven't had a Sondheim Lovers Show in a while, so I thought it was time to pull out a few of those neurosis-laden, gin-sodden, dysfunctional-but-trying-but-can-we-stop-trying-now sorta songs of his. So Follies it is!  So Sunday in the Park it is! So...maybe some Company?  I'll stop...soon. 

But that's not to say we ain't positive and up and BROADWAY, right? So Tammy Grimes will start us off, as The Unsinkable Molly Brown, with "I Ain't Down Yet".  That whole character/musical was based on Margaret Brown, the infamous Titanic shipwreck survivor (and man, is SHE a musical theatre character and a half, in real life?! See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Brown). And I love Tammy's voice...which was once described as "a low, throaty quiver, a hum that takes wing".  She won a Tony for her portrayal of Molly, back in 1960. 

We also have a new to 2 On The Aisle show, Little Mary Sunshine...some Grey Gardens, with those lovely, wacky Beale girls....and Elaine Stritch, with an excerpt from her one woman show, At Liberty, singing/acerbically commenting on her Company experience...The Little Things You Do Together.  Which brings us back to Sondheim. And gin.  And "Lunch!"  :)


I Ain't Down Yet (Tammy Grimes, Ensemble, The Unsinkable Molly Brown)
The Forest Rangers (Male Ensemble, Little Mary Sunshine)
Little Mary Sunshine (Eileen Brennan, Ensemble, Little Mary Sunshine)
Look For A Sky Of Blue (Eileen Brennan, Ensemble, Little Mary Sunshine)
You Must Meet My Wife (Len Cariou, Glynis Johns, A Little Night Music)
Liaisons (Hermoine Gingold, A Little Night Music)
In Buddy's Eyes (Barbara Cook, Follies)
Losing My Mind (Ruthie Henshall, Follies)
It's Hot Up Here (Ensemble, Sunday In The Park With George)
Everybody Loves Louis (Bernadette Peters, Sunday In The Park)
Move On (Bernadette Peters, Mandy Patinkin, Sunday In The Park)
Shadow Waltz (Tammy Grimes, 42nd Street)
I'll Be Here (Audra McDonald, Going Home)
Unexpected Song (Bernadette Peters, Song And Dance)
The Little Things You Do Together (Elaine Stritch, Elaine Stritch At Liberty)
You Could Drive A Person Crazy (Pamela Myers, Donna McKechnie, Susan
            Browning, Company)
Poor Baby (Female Ensemble, Company)
The Ladies Who Lunch (Elaine Stritch, Company)
The Cake I Had (Christine Ebersole, Mary Louise Wilson, Grey Gardens)
Peas In A Pod (Christine Ebersole, Erin Davie, Bob Stillman, Grey Gardens)
Around The World (Christine Ebersole, Mary Louise Wilson, Grey Gardens)
Let Me Sing And I'm Happy (Al Jolson, Mammy)
I Got The Sun In The Morning (And The Moon At Night) (Betty Hutton, Annie Get
            Your Gun)
Steppin' Out With My Baby (Fred Astaire, Easter Parade)
After You Get What You Want, You Don't Want It (Marilyn Monroe, There's No
            Business Like Show Business)
The Pinstripes Are All That They See (Tom Wopat, Aaron Tveit, Catch Me If You Can)
Butter Outta Cream (Aaron Tveit, Tom Wopat, Catch Me If You Can)
Jet Set (Aaron Tveit and Female Ensemble, Catch Me If You Can)

A Few Dreamers...

 Peggy Lee, and "Street Of Dreams"...

 "Dream," with Dean! 

 

Bobby singing the song he wrote back in 1959,

"Dream Lover"...

 Frank, and "If You Are But A Dream"...

And Doris..."Dream A Little Dream Of Me."

Speaking of "The Dreams"....

 Jennifer Holliday, Sheryl Lee Ralph, and Loretta Devine,

the original Dreamettes, and later "The Dreams."

Dreamgirls opened on Broadway in 1982.

 Ben Harneyf as Curtis Taylor, Jr. and Sheryl as Deena Jones.

The show ran for over 1,500 performances,

and was nominated for Tonys, Grammys, and Drama Desk Awards.

 The 30th Anniversary of Dreamgirls brought the original cast together:

Obba Babatunde, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Michael Bennett (director/choreographer),

Jennifer Holliday, Ben Harney and Cleavent Derricks.

The movie version was released in 2006...

with Jennifer Hudson, Beyonce Knowles, and Anika Noni Rose,

as Effie, Deena, and Lorrell.

The Bohemian Girl...Where Those Marble Halls Dwelt!

The Bohemian Girl was first produced at the Drury Lane Theatre

in London in 1843, and stayed in the repertoire into

the 1930s.

 

The music was composed by Michael William Balfe,

lyrics by Alfred Bunn.

The aria, I Dreamt That I Dwelt In Marble Halls,

was first sung by Elizabeth Rainforth.

 Three movies were made:

The first, a silent picture in 1922 

and a shortened version of the opera in 1927, both British.

In 1936, a Hollywood version was created, starring Laurel and Hardy! 

It was credited as "A Comedy Version of The Bohemian Girl."

 Jacqueline Wells starred as Arline,

with her singing dubbed by Rosina Lawrence.

 Laurel and Hardy played 17th Century Austrian peasants...

and co-starring was Darla Hood

(of Our Gang fame)!

Playlist for Sunday, May 3, 2015: Just Dreamy!

You may notice by perusing the playlist that YES, this is a show with a theme!  And that theme is DREAM!  Have a dream, dream a little dream, I could use a dream, I guess I'll have to dream...you name it, it's dreamy.  This Dream Land of a show pulls from Broadway musicals, movie musicals, and standards old and new. A couple of them may be soporific enough to induce actual dreaming...but try to stay awake, okay? 

Favorites?  "I Dreamt I Dwelt In Marble Halls"...from (gulp) 1843, when dinosaurs roamed the earth. It's actually from an opera, The Bohemian Girl, and it has found its way into soundtracks, literature, and covers by Joan Sutherland, Enya, Celtic Women and more...but I know it from a little movie called "An Apartment for Peggy" with Jeanne Crain.  Wonderful and old and sappy, so we're doing it!

I also love Liza and "You Stepped Out Of A Dream", which was recorded live in 1996, which is snazzy and sleazy and other "s" adjectives.  "I'll Never Have to Dream Again" with Connie Boswell (after she jettisoned her sisters, or they jettisoned her, depending on the rags you read)....and two Glenn Miller offerings, "I Guess I'll Have to Dream the Rest" and "As Long as I'm Dreaming."

Standard-wise, we have Doris and Tony, Frank and Dean...a little Peggy, a little Bobby...and all with one thing in mind: Sweet Dreams! 

 All I Do Is Dream Of You (Ensemble, Singin' In The Rain)
Baby, Dream Your Dream (Helen Gallagher, Thelma Oliver, Sweet Charity)
The Sailor Of My Dreams (Bernadette Peters, Dames At Sea)
Out Of My Dreams (Joan Roberts, Ensemble, Oklahoma)
All I Needed Was The Dream (Isabel Keating, The Boy From Oz)
I Dreamt I Dwelt In Marble Halls (Rosina Lawrence, The Bohemian Girl)
I Could Use A Dream (Tony Martin, Alice Faye, Sally, Irene And Mary)
I'll Never Have To Dream Again (Connie Boswell, Pennies From Heaven)
I Guess I'll Have To Dream The Rest (The Glenn Miller Orchestra and Ray Eberle)
I'll See You In My Dreams (Django Reinhardt)
A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes (Ilene Woods, Cinderella)
Have A Dream (Fritz Weaver, All American)
First You Dream (Daniel McDonald, Karen Ziemba, Steel Pier)
I Dreamed A Dance (Alice Ripley, Aaron Tveit, Next To Normal)
The Dream (Zero Mostel, Maria Karnilova, Fiddler On The Roof)
All I Do Is Dream Of You (Gene Kelly, Singin' In The Rain)
Dream A Little Dream Of Me (Doris Day, Day And Night)
As Long As I'm Dreaming (Tex Beneke, Garry Steven, The Glenn Miller Orchestra)
Street Of Dreams (Peggy Lee, Dream Street)
Dream Lover (Bobby Darin)
Dream Girls (Sheryl Lee Ralph, Loretta Devine, Jennifer Holliday, Dream Girls)
When I First Saw You (Ben Harney, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Dream Girls)
Steppin' To The Bad Side (Ben Harney, Cleavant Derrick, Dream Girls)
And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going (Jennifer Holliday, Dream Girls)
If You Are But A Dream (Frank Sinatra)
Smoke Dreams (Jo Stafford and The Starlighters)
Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams (Tony Bennett)
Dream (Dean Martin)
You Stepped Out Of A Dream (Liza Minnelli, Gently)
I Dreamed A Dream (Randy Graff, Les Miserables)
The Impossible Dream (Richard Kiley, Man Of La Mancha)
I Have Dreamed (Julie Andrews)
Once Upon A Dream (Mary Costa, Bill Shirley, Sleeping Beauty)