Author: Chris Van Patten

The Definitive Eve…

Alright, so Applause isn’t exactly brilliance. In fact, considering the rather leaden Encores! concert from last season, it’s far from it. However, what is brilliance is Penny Fuller’s interpretation of the role of Eve. In fact, it is the only thing that keeps the telemovie version of the musical afloat. (From what I’ve been told, Tony winner Lauren Bacall was worlds better live in performance than she is here). For as much as I enjoy the film, I feel after having seen the Eves of Anne Baxter, Penny Fuller and Little Evie – er Erin Davie… that Fuller best encapsulates the character. She only gets to sing two numbers, including this ferociously explosive ironic reprise of “But Alive” toward the end of the second act that brought down the house (preceding the dead on arrival “Something Greater” for Lauren Bacall to all but resign herself to June Cleaver’s kitchen). I have to admit, it’s not a strong song as written but she sure as hell sells it.

Penny still looks fantastic and is giving one of the most honest performances on a NY stage right now in Dividing the Estate (look for more on that in the near future). She also gets to sing a little but, sounding exactly as she did almost forty years ago which prompts the question: why hasn’t she been in any musicals lately?

Design for One

Here is an original sketch of Tony Walton’s costume design for Ken Howard as Teddy Roosevelt from the original production of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, before he removed his name from the production and his work was replaced by others. Now if only we could see what Patricia Routledge’s costume looked like for her famed “Duet for One.” I think there should be a field trip to the appropriate research facilities to find as many press photos as possible. Are you with me, gang…

Quote of the Day

“And that audience! Omigod! You know what’s great? The audience is a palpable part of the evening — which is what you’re always hoping for. As an actor in the theatre, you want the audience to be vitally, dynamically involved — and they are with this. It’s not realistic. It’s not naturalistic. It’s just pure theatre…. The very first night I thought, ‘Wow! This is like a wall of security — this audience energy. It’s fabulous.’ Every performance is different. That’s why it might be possible to play it forever, whereas with ordinary plays four months is about as long as I can take it without sorta doubling back on ‘What am I doing here?’ I’m hoping they’ll invite me to do the tour, because I love to tour. That’s the plan in my head. It’s starting in August 2009 in San Francisco. I just would really love to tour with it to see how it is in other cities. I love exploring.”

“Deanna said to me, ‘Y’know, I’m only leaving because they won’t let me do six a week.’ So I immediately called the producers and my agent and said, ‘What am I, some kind of lamb being led to the slaughter here that I’m expected to do eight when the woman who has been doing it says she can only do six?’ But she’s a very different person than me and probably not quite as strong. I have a 50 percent strain of Swedish peasant blood, not to mention that the other half is Old New England.”

– Estelle Parsons in a new article for Playbill

History repeats itself…

Christian Hoff has been replaced in title role in Roundabout’s Pal Joey revival by his understudy Matthew Risch after suffering from a foot injury this past weekend. However, many people on the web boards have speculated that the injury itself is perhaps some sort of cover for Hoff’s departure, especially considering the eviscerating word of mouth he was receiving for his first few preview performances.

Coincidentally, the last Broadway revival of the show in 1976 saw stars Edward Villella and Eleanor Parker replaced by Christopher Chadman and Joan Copeland during previews. (That production, which played the Circle in the Square for 73 performances, featured Dixie Carter as Melba, who also played Vera regionally – an inspired choice).

Hmmm….

It’s opening night…!

As I embark on the beginning of what could be a delightful year-end glut of theatre, I will be venturing down to the Booth Theatre for the opening night of LCT’s production of Horton Foote’s Dividing the Estate. This will also mark the first time I’ll be seeing Elizabeth Ashley and Penny Fuller live in performance, which makes up a great deal of the excitement I’m feeling. It also marks my first opening since I was at the Vivian Beaumont last April for South Pacific.

I Get a Kick Out of Reba?

Michael Riedel tells us today in the NY Post that Reba McEntire may be headlining a Roundabout revival of Anything Goes next season, directed by Kathleen Marshall. McEntire, who famously made her Broadway (and stage) debut in the revival of Annie Get Your Gun to rave reviews and sell-out business, winning a 2001 Theatre World Award as well as a special award from the Drama Desk. Plans to film her performance as Annie Oakley never came to fruition and instead she signed up for her long-running self-titled sitcom. There was a brief return to play Nellie Forbush in the 2005 Carnegie Hall concert of South Pacific and even talk of her returning in The Unsinkable Molly Brown (did you know that she was James Cameron’s first choice for the part of Mrs. J.J. Brown in the film Titanic but had to turn it down because of her touring schedule?). Now it looks as if she’ll take on the role of Reno Sweeney, another part originated by Ethel Merman, but also memorably essayed by Eileen Rodgers in a 1962 off-Broadway revival, Patti LuPone in a Lincoln Center revision in 1987 and Elaine Paige in the London transfer of the Lincoln Center production.

It is here that I confess muted interest. I am a fan of Reba; however, not so much of that chestnut of a show, with a some fine Cole Porter tunes but with a book of miniscule prescience and substance – and I’m referring to the 1987 rewrite! (I notoriously retitled an unusually plagued production at my college Everything Blows). There is another Merman role that I think would fit Ms. McEntire hand-to-glove: Mrs. Sally Adams in a revival of Call Me Madam. (She was legitimately born on a thousand acres of Oklahoma land. Make that seven thousand acres). Madam has only been revived in an Encores! concert with Tyne Daly and is dated in its Truman-era topicality (those phone calls about Margaret’s recitals would be obscure today, but I’m sure Lady Iris and I would be in stitches), but with the right star and personality, much like McEntire’s, it would be a good time. Just sayin’…

Olivia de Havilland Goes to Washington

Two-time Oscar-winning legend Olivia de Havilland was in Washington, D.C. the other day to remind of us of that old-school Hollywood glamor and receive the National Medal of Arts during a ceremony at the White House. The actress, probably most identified with her role as Melanie Hamilton in the iconic 1939 masterpiece Gone With the Wind, is 92 and resides in Paris (where she teaches Sunday school). Among the other recipients were the Ford’s Theatre Society as well as brothers Robert and Richard Sherman, the composing team behind Mary Poppins, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Charlotte’s Web, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, the Broadway musical Over Here! and the deathless “It’s a Small World.”

Elaine Stritch Returns to "30 Rock"

I don’t know about you, but I’m already there…

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 11
“30 Rock” (9:30-10 p.m.)
“Christmas Special”

CHRISTMAS SPIRIT TAKES OVER 30 ROCK AS LIZ ATTEMPTS TO FULFILL CHILDREN’S CHRISTMAS WISHES; ELAINE STRITCH GUEST-STARS — Only days before Christmas, Liz’s (Tina Fey) parents ditch her to celebrate the holidays at a couples-only retreat, leaving her all alone for the holiday and to fill the void, she participates in a charity program, “Letters to Santa,” to help underprivileged kids have a nice Christmas. Meanwhile, Jack (Alec Baldwin) takes his frustration out on the TGS staff when his plans for a dream holiday vacation away from his overbearing mother, Colleen (guest star Elaine Stritch) are crushed. The TGS crew are forced to give up their plans to produce a last-minute Christmas special. Tracy Morgan, Jane Krakowski, Jack McBrayer, Judah Friedlander and Keith Powell also star.