And every ONE of them had a MOM! :)

 A Chorus Line,

from 1975,

won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and a Tony for Best Musical.

It starred Donna McKechnie, Priscilla Lopez, Kelly Bishop,

Thomas J. Walsh, Wayne Cilento,

Robert LuPone (yup, Patti's older brother)

and below (with her new chassis),

Pamela Blair.

 "Dance: 10; Looks: 3",

with Pamela showing off her wares, above,

and all head-shotty, below.

Pamela would go on to dance in Promises Promises,

and Seesaw, 

star in The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas, 

and act in several soap operas (Another World, Ryan's Hope)

and films (Annie, Mighty Aphrodite).

Tony Award-winning Donna McKechnie as Cassie

in A Chorus Line...

and below, a generation older,

but still fabulous in red!

Donna made her Broadway debut in 

How To Succeed, 1961.

Promises Promises, Forum, Company,

the infamous Gothic soap, Dark Shadows (!) 

are just a few shows from her lengthy resume.

And now she tours with her one-woman show,

"Inside The Music".

 Mother's Day on 2 On The Aisle

would not be complete without SOME version of 

"Rose's Turn"

from Gypsy.

This year, it's Patti LuPone's turn!

Above with Emma Rowley and Sami Gayle

("Tomorrow's Mother's Day)

and below, in that Mama Rose moment.

 In our Diva Corner

the wonderful Betty Buckley

and her Story Song album rendition of
"Chanson"

from Stephen Schwartz's The Baker's Wife.

 And we also must fulfill a request for 

L'il Abner,

with (above) Peter Palmer in the title role,

Edie Adams,

and Stubby Kaye (below) as Marryin' Sam.

The music of Gene De Paul and Johnny Mercer,

and the choreography of Michael Kidd

(the same team that brought us Seven Brides For Seven Brothers). 

William Lanteau as Available Jones,

Edie (who gave up a role in Candide to play Daisie Mae)

and Charlotte Rae as Mammy Yokum.

Playlist For May 13, 2018: Ahhhhhh!

And we're off! We are officially in that wonderful cycle of the year that goes from May 1st to January 2nd! Like sliding down an icy slope, it goes FAST. Something every weekend. Something every Friday night. Something EVERY! The world spins faster this time of year, while we barbecue and firework and bike and baseball and mow and rake and swim and carve and feast and decorate and drink way too much lemonade or beer or gin or champagne (or all of that).  And that brings us to January 2nd, when the hang-overs linger and the tree must be tossed and there is nothing on the calendar...except for snow, unfashionable outerwear and an errant boring holiday.

So I say, GRAB IT and don't let go! Enjoy every mosquito bite, every humid degree, every cob of corn. Add some music (when you get tired of those bird serenades I'm hearing at the moment) and maybe that music will be Broadway.

This week, we fulfill requests for A Chorus Line, Lil Abner, Candide (I have esoteric listeners!), fly some kites, invite some darling divas over for a girls' night, and celebrate all you Mothers out there! I'll throw some shrimps on the barbie (or gluten-free veggie burgers, it's all good), get out the lawn chairs, and we'll go barefoot! :) 


Tomorrow's Mother's Day (Sami Gayle, Emma Rowley, Gypsy)
At The Ballet (Ensemble, A Chorus Line)
Dance: Ten; Looks; Three (Pamela Blair, A Chorus Line)
The Music And The Mirror (Donna McKechnie, A Chorus Line)
Jubilation T. Cornpone (Stubby Kaye, Ensemble, Lil Abner)
I'm Past My Prime (Edie Adams, Lil Abner)
The Matrimonial Stomp (Stubby Kaye, Company, Lil Abner)
Go Back Home (Audra McDonald, Go Back Home)
Growing Pains (Jessica Molaskey, Make Believe)
Chanson (Betty Buckley, Story Songs)
World Weary (Christine Ebersole, Christine Ebersole Sings Noel Coward)
Kite (Gary Burghoff, You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown)
Let's Go Fly A Kite (Dave Tomlinson, Mary Poppins)
The Kite (Mark Linn-Baker, Jay Goede, A Year With Frog And Toad)
Overture (Instrumental, Candide)
Oh, Happy We (Barbara Cook, Robert Rounseville, Candide
Make Our Garden Grow (Company, Candide)
Company (Dean Jones, Ensemble, Company
Sorry - Grateful (George Coe, Charles Braswell, Charles Kimbrough,
      Company)
The Ladies Who Lunch (Elaine Stritch, Company)
Motherhood (Carol Channing, Eileen Brennan, Hello, Dolly!)
My Mother Would Love You (Ethel Merman, Panama Hattie)
Mother's Day (Sherie Rene Scott, Women On The Verge Of A
      Nervous Breakdown)
If Momma Was Married (Laura Benanti, Leigh Ann Larkin, Gypsy)
The Garden Of Disappointed Mothers (Rob McClure, Nancy Opel,
      Honeymoon In Vegas
Confession To A Park Avenue Mother (Charles Nelson Reilly, Parade)
Around The World (Christine Ebersole, Grey Gardens)
Rose's Turn (Patti LuPone, Gypsy)

Travel, they say, improves the mind...

 Bryan d'Arcy James and Daniel Breaker,

the original Shrek and Donkey, back in 2008.

Shrek ran for just over a year on Broadway,

One of the most expensive musicals of its day (25 mill?).

It got tons of Tony noms, but won only one

(for those costumes)!

 "The Travel Song" 

with the same duo,

now outfitted in those award-winning duds!

 Among a horde of other accomplishments since Shrek,

Daniel Breaker is presently starring in Hamilton

as Aaron Burr!

 (That's who I saw in the role, and he was super!)

 The Frogs

was written by Stephen Sondheim

and produced in 1974

in Yale University's (amphibian-appropriate) pool.

In 2004 it was revived at Lincoln Center

(well, they do have a fountain!),

with Nathan Lane's tweaks.

Above Nathan as Dionysus and Roger Bart as Xanthias,

  traveling companions to the Underworld,

from whence they hope to retrieve George Bernard Shaw,

so he (and Art and Literature)

can save the world. 

Just watch out for the frogs.

 

 The cast huddled about Susan Stroman,

who directed.

Can you pick out John Byner?

Also in the huddle: Roger B,

Nathan, Peter Bartlett, and Burke Moses. 

 See? These are the scary frogs.

 And you can't do a travel "set"

without Elaine Stritch's ode

to the wrong people who do it.

Above, Elaine as Cruise Director Mimi Paragon 

on the boat to Europe

in Sail Away!

 

Had to include this shot of Elaine with 

"passenger" Alice Pearce

who you may recognize as Lucy Schmeeler

(Girl of Mystery)

from On The Town.

 (And Mrs. Kravitz on Bewitched?)

 Elaine with Noel Coward,

the perpetrator of this musical.

Ed Sullivan spotlighting Elaine on 

the Toast of the Town,

during her On Your Toes run in 1954.

 And I had to add a shot of The Perfect Furlough...

ever seen this movie?
Me neither!

Troy Donahue, Les Tremayne, Linda Cristal, Keenan Wynn,

Janet Leigh, Tony Curtis, Elaine and King Donovan, 1958.

Sounds like "On The Town" but in France,

and maybe no Lucy Schmeeler

(unless Elaine was playing that part! :)

Here's to May, Smirnoff, and Saying No!

 Hoops

(the precursors of kites, Frisbees and Jarts)!

They used to be a thing

back in Merry Old, I guess.

Lerner and Loewe's Camelot  swirled onto Broadway

in 1961

with Julie, Richard and Robert.

Julie was nominated for a Tony, 

but it was Richard who walked away with one.

 And not to forget Roddy McDowell as Mordred,

whose days look to be numbered, above. 

 Love this vodka ad,

back in the days when Moss Hart

catered your cast party

and even invited the dog.

Robert's debut on Broadway brought him a Theatre World Award

 

 Joan Roberts (who played Laurey)

and Celeste Holm (Ado Annie)

in the original Oklahoma,

relaxing back stage,

maybe with a Smirnoff or 2.

Below, Celeste with Joseph Buloff and Ralph Riggs.

 Celeste was 26 when she played Ado Annie;

after her success, she'd go on to star in Bloomer Girl,

and then Hollywood reached out an arm! 

 In the movie version,

Gloria Grahame was the Ado Annie dame,

below with Shirley Jones.

Gloria's film career was losing steam when she 

accepted the role,

and audiences had a hard time believing 

that this very successful noir actress
(The Bad And The Beautiful, The Big Heat, A Lonely Place)

could be fresh faced and wholesome.

 She didn't win any points behind the camera either,

alienating her co-stars,

while suffering from a paralyzed upper lip

(the result of plastic surgery).

 Had to include the above shot

from The Greatest Show On Earth, 1952,

and an Edith Head costume for glorious Gloria.

Ms. Grahame (the owner of 4 husbands)

did her own stunts in that movie

as Angel, The Elephant Girl.

Playlist For Sunday, May 6, 2018: Cain't Say No to Spring!

Tra lah! It's May! And I won't ruin the rest of the lyric with Julie's lusty bits. But maybe, just maybe, we have all the snow, hail, and slush behind us now. Well, especially if we refuse to turn around and check. All that we have left to face now is locusts, and when locust season is, I haven't a clue, so let's not worry about the locusts for now, and just get out there and pretend to garden (for the neighbors' sakes) and bike and toss frisbees and jarts (JARTS!) and avoid painting your stairs or the Bilco and ferret about in the shed to find the barbie and make summer plans!

Having typed that, it seems like a lot of stuff to do. I'm feeling seasonal pressure. So much to cram into those 10 or 12 weekends of 72 degrees or higher...but a dash of Broadway, like a dash of bitters, lightens those long lighted days. Did you know Hair just turned 50? Did you know Gavin Creel (Gavin must come from a long line of fish basket-toting folk) was in Hair AND She Loves Me AND Hello Dolly AND Millie? And that Daniel Breaker, who played Donkey in Shrek (The Musical), is presently our new Aaron Burr in Hamilton? (And he's fantastic...those eyes!). AND that a new musical based on The Sting is (maybe) coming to (perhaps)(dare we hope) Broadway, starring (a slightly thicker around the tum-tum) Harry Connick, Jr.? That alone is worth a piece of Mahler! :)

Broadway will waft thru my windows (and my brain) throughout this most socially-chuffed, physically-energizing, overly-priced-probably season.  So fill your (not plastic! no excuse for plastic, I don't even CARE if you have a pool!) glass with something icy, rim that glass with salt (store the rock salt deep in above shed caverns, so you won't get confused), and Let The Sun Shine In!


Aquarius (Sasha Allen, Company, Hair)
The Lusty Month Of May (Julie Andrews, Camelot)
I Wonder What The King Is Doing Tonight (Richard Burton, Camelot)
Then You May Take Me To The Fair (Julie Andrews, Knights Of The
      Round Table, Camelot)
If Ever I Would Leave You (Robert Goulet, Camelot)
Till The Clouds Roll By (Hugh Panaro, Rebecca Luker, Jerome Kern Treasury)
All The Elks And Masons (Christopher Fitzgerald, Jessica Stone,
      Life Begins At 8:40)
She Didn't Say No (Jeanne Lehman, Jerome Kern Treasury)
I Got Life (Gavin Creel, Company, Hair)
Easy To Be Hard (Caissie Levy, Hair)
Let The Sun Shine In (Company, Hair)
I Cain't Say No (Celeste Holm, Oklahoma!)
I Cain't Say No (Gloria Grahame, Oklahoma!)
I Cain't Say No (Patti LuPone, Don't Monkey With Broadway)
Travel Hopefully (Steven Pacey, Malcolm Sinclair, By Jeeves
I Love To Travel (Nathan Lane, Roger Bart, The Frogs)
Travelin' In Louisiana (Female Ensemble, Sugar Babies)
Travel Song (Bryan d'Arcy James, Daniel Breaker, Shrek The Musical)
Why Do The Wrong People Travel? (Elaine Stritch, Sail Away)
Welcome To The Theatre (Lauren Bacall, Applause)
Welcome To Brooklyn (Evan Pappas, Lainie Kazan, Josh Mostel, Tim
      Curry, My Favorite Year)
Welcome To The 60s (Marissa Jaret Winokur, Harvy Fierstein, Hairspray)
Welcome To Transylvania (Ensemble, Young Frankenstein)
Welcome To Kanagawa (Ernest Harada, Ensemble, Pacific Overtures)
Welcome To Nowhere (Katrina Lenk, John Cariani, Ensemble, The Band's
      Visit)
Not For The Life Of Me/Thoroughly Modern Millie (Sutton Foster, Company,
      Thoroughly Modern Millie)
Long As I'm Here With You (Sheryl Lee Ralph, Thoroughly Modern Millie)
The Speed Test (Marc Kudisch, Sutton Foster, Thoroughly Modern Millie)
Welcome To Holiday Inn (Michele Lee, Seesaw)
Welcome To The Renaissance (Michael James Scott, Something Rotten!)
Welcome To The Night (John Lithgow, Bryan d'Arcy James, Company,
      Sweet Smell Of Success)

Found!

 Not a ton of shots from

70, Girls, 70...

but these are from the Masterworks vault,

taken at the cast recording.

Mildred Natwick featured above. 

 Dorothea Freitag and 

Karen Gustafson (the associate music director, on left).

 Hans Conreid who took on David Burn's role

when he became ill. 

(Uncle Tanous??)

Below, Lillian Roth. 

Warming up for Patti!

With Patti LuPone performing Sunday (4/2918)

at Eastman,

a mini-pictorial tribute seems appropriate!

Patti was born in Northport, Long Island in 1949,

She graduated from Juilliard

(the school's first Drama division to graduate, 1972),  

and then continued her acting work with John Houseman

as part of The Acting Company (1972-76).

 Pics from just SOME of her signature musicals,

(tho she's done as many straight plays, 

if not more!):

Above, the ill-fated Baker's Wife (1976),

with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz...

Patti got to play Genevieve

and sing the marvelous "Meadowlark" song.

It never made it to Broadway (well, not yet!).

That was followed by her participation in 

Studs Terkel's Working,

which closed after 24 performances. 

 (Just try and find a photo of THAT original production!)

 Evita, the creation of Andrew Lloyd Webber (below)

and Tim Rice, 1979.

Despite the fact that the production was

stressful for Patti,

she won her first Tony Award for her portrayal of Eva Peron.

 (The second would come for Gypsy, 29 years later.)

 As Reno Sweeney 

in a Lincoln Center Theatre revival of Anything Goes (1987).

 Patti originated the role

 of Norma Desmond 

in the original West End production 

of Sunset Boulevard, 1993,

and was promised that she would open the show

on Broadway, as well.

But Andrew Lloyd Webber fired her, and replaced her with

Glenn Close.

As you'd expect,

Patti discusses this chapter of her life in detail

in MORE than one chapter of her memoir.

 (Pick it up. No holds barred.)

 In the revival of Sweeney Todd, above,

with Michael Cerveris...2005.

Patti played tuba and bells in this production,

and still had time to make

Mrs. Lovett's meat pies!

 Another production from 2005, done regionally:

Anyone Can Whistle,

with Patti as Mayoress Cora Hoover Hooper.

From War Paint, 2017

Patti as Helene Rubenstein, and another Tony nomination...

This production was forced to close 1 month early

when it became clear that Patti required immediate

hip-replacement surgery.

(Hey, I have something in common with Patti LuPone! :)))

Patti as Joanne in a Ravinia Festival production 

of Company...

"The Ladies Who Lunch".

She is set to reprise this role in the 

Fall 2018 West End production.