Author: Kevin Daly

Happy Birthday, Tessie O’Shea!

Tessie O’Shea was a Welsh music hall performer who became immensely popular in the West End. Her signature song (capitalizing on her weight) was ‘Two Ton Tessie from Tennessee’, and henceforth was known affectionately to many fans as “Two Ton Tessie, ” a performer with an infectious smile, endless warmth and a clarion voice that could soar with the best of them. She made her Broadway debut in 1963 in the original cast of Noel Coward‘s final musical The Girl Who Came to Supper, which starred Jose Ferrer and Florence Henderson. Adapting Terrence Rattigan’s The Sleeping Prince, a play about an American chorus girl who arouses the desires of a Prince Regent during the coronation of George V in 1911 London, the production received negative notices for attempting to ape the highly successful My Fair Lady.

One the shows pros – and structurally, one of its cons – was creation of the role of Ada Cockle, a fish and chips peddler in the heart of London, for O’Shea, whose sole purpose was to deliver a 15 minute song cycle of music hall numbers (that ultimately didn’t advance plot or character)*. However, audiences and critics adored O’Shea and her song-cycle, and for those showstopping 15 minutes in the first act, she would receive the Tony award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. The show itself couldn’t overcome the negative reviews and box-office drop-off (1963-64 was one of the richest seasons in the history of the American musical, with Hello, Dolly! as the toast of the town, and other memorable shows such as She Loves Me, High Spirits, 110 in the Shade and Funny Girl) and closed after 112 performances at the Broadway Theatre.

The score is rather pleasant. Typical of Coward with some operetta and pastiche materials and, as always, his witty lyrics. Ferrer acquits himself well for a poor singer. But it’s Henderson and O’Shea who get the best of the material. Henderson had two choice ballads, but also had a 10 minute showcase in the second act in which she delivered a one-woman abridgement of her character’s musical The Coconut Girl. (Much like “The London Medley” in the first act, “The Cocoanut Girl” was strictly peripheral to the story, but also brought down the house). I have a minor quibble about the latter: if Mary Morgan is so good that she can sing, dance and act the entire show by herself, then why isn’t she the star of the show, or at least the star’s understudy? But, it’s a minor quibble and a joy to hear Henderson take on the multi-octave send-up of period musicals.

O’Shea also appeared as the matriarch in the 1966 failure A Time for Singing, a sung-through musical adaptation of How Green Was My Valley. While a quick failure, the musical contained a magnificent and soaring musical score, thankfully recorded, albeit highlights. She got to lead several numbers, most notably the rousing title song. The show played 41 performances in 1966, and also starred Shani Wallis and, in his Broadway debut, George Hearn.

Many of you might recognize her from her appearances in the films Bedknobs and Broomsticks and The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming. Enjoy this entertaining lady at the top of her form.

PS – What the hell kind of accent was that, Ed?

Mendacity

Went to see the revival of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof this afternoon. It was an extraordinary experience, as the Broadhurst was completely sold out and the audience was alive and kicking. Truth be told, this is my first Wednesday matinee since I saw Urinetown on, would you believe it, Wednesday March 12, 2003.

I was fascinated by the mixed critical response. The ways in which they were divided only made me want to see the production more. Many critics singled out one of the four leads as the chief asset of the play; making you wonder if they saw the same production. I thought that it was a decent production; well staged, well-acted. It could have used some tightening and reigning in at points, but the experience was never ultimately hindered. In fact, my only problem was the tendency for broadness. The ever-youthful Anika Noni Rose of Caroline, or Change is all grown up as the sexually frustrated Maggie the Cat. Rose is alluring, sensual and really manages to convey her character’s sincerity. Phylicia Rashad and James Earl Jones are forces of nature as Ida and Big Daddy. Rashad storms onstage during the first act like whirling dervish and you just can’t help but adore her. Her third act arc is beautifully realized with pain and humor. Jones is having more fun than should be allowed by law – and he makes no attempt to hide it. Big Daddy is the scene-stealer of the piece; he gets the bawdier jokes and has the most dynamic character arc. When he’s raunchy, he is RAUNCHY, but is incredibly poignant in the second act when confronting Brick for the truth behind his problems. Terrence Howard made an impressive stage debut with a subtly nuanced turn as Brick. I’m hoping that he continues to look for stage work as he could amass an impressive body of theatrical credits; and become an even more stellar stage actor in the process. Giancarlo Esposito and Lisa Arrindell Anderson are Gooper and Mae (Sister Woman), the conniving brother and sister-in-law, who are characters straight out of melodrama, and go overboard far too often.

The change in the characters’ race adds a fresh perspective on a classic work; it is also bringing out a larger African-American audience, who were the majority of the audience at this afternoon’s performance and were thoroughly engaged. The audience as a whole had an energy that may have surpassed the high-octane charge onstage. What surprised me so much was the amount of laughter that has been the response. I’m not sure it was directed as such; I think it just happens. We’ve grown used to hearing shocking and depraved things on TV, the news, etc. that our sensibilities have softened. The frank talk of sexual desire and homosexual overtones that shocked audiences in 1955 (and had to be toned down for the highly entertaining film adaptation of 1958) doesn’t have the same impact today. Our tendency nowadays is to laugh at dysfunction rather than let it shock us. A couple of times I felt uncomfortable – laughter when Brick was chasing Maggie around the bedrom with the crutch and during the candles exchange between Ida and Big Daddy (Rashad is heartbreaking in that moment, I might add). Later on at dinner I thought more about that: the characters and themes at August: Osage County are much more dysfunctional and shocking than anything in Cat and the audiences are howling even more at that one. Just the way things are. And that’s okay. It’s fun to be at a matinee crowd that wasn’t saddled with students or elder theatre patrons. This performance was alive on and offstage and that kind of energy just fuels the fun factor in such an experience. If not the perfect production of the play, it’s a highly entertaining and engaging experience.

And it might be insidious to add, but Tennessee Williams sure writes fantastic and memorable dialogue. Always a good time.

Imogene Coca performs "Repent"

Imogene Coca originated the role of Mrs. Letitia Primrose (a role Mildred Natwick turned down for being too salacious), the religious fanatic from the lunatic asylum in the screwball musical comedy On the Twentieth Century. This highly entertaining number was her one solo in the show in which she instructed the audience on the only way they could find salvation: to “Repent.” The musical opened in 1978 at the St. James starring Madeline Kahn, John Cullum and Kevin Kline. Directed by Hal Prince, with music by Cy Coleman and book and lyrics by Comden & Green, the musical is an adaptation of the farce Twentieth Century, most famous for its 1934 film adaptation with John Barrymore and Carole Lombard. The show is a treasure: the two leads parallel Kiss Me Kate in that they must be able to sing with near operatic quality, but they must also be funny (not to mention the mammoth egos of the leading characters). The show is about a desperate theatre impresario trying to make a comeback with his former leading lady/ex-lover, who has gone on to Hollywood stardom. The score is phenomenal and the cast recording is a must have, in spite of the fact they recorded on a day when Kahn was experiencing vocal problems. (Oh, but what an overture and what a great listen).

(Kahn would depart the company after two months, the specifics of which are still partly cloudy. Understudy Judy Kaye became a star replacing her in the lead role. Sarah, Noah and I were privileged enough to see Kaye sing “Never” at the Theatre World Awards a couple years back and she could still play the role at 60). The show won 5 Tony awards including Best Actor (Cullum), Best Feat. Actor (Kline), Best Book, Score and Scenic Design (a celebration of art deco that audiences cheered as much as the show itself).

The musical played 460 performances and has only been revived in NY under the guise of an Actor’s Fund concert starring Douglas Sills, Marin Mazzie and Joanne Worley.

The Great American Musical Returns!

Patti LuPone officially returns to Broadway tonight in the latest revival of the musical Gypsy playing the St. James Theatre. As we are well aware, this is a transfer from the Encores! Summer Series concert that played the City Center last July. The production has transferred, company and all. (Save for Nancy Opel, who is currently starring in the national tour of The Drowsy Chaperone. Lenora Nemetz returns to the Great White Way after an extended absence as Mazeppa and LuPone’s stand-by).

La Môme

Though I was pulling for my personal favorite Julie Christie to win at this year’s Academy Awards, I was in no way disappointed in the selection of the gorgeous and talented French actress Marion Cotillard for her portrayal of Edith Piaf in La Vie en Rose. It’s a tad bit unusual as far as biopics are concerned as it doesn’t follow a solid through line. The film shows her life from early childhood to her death from liver cancer at the age of 47, but non-linear; almost a puzzle piecing together her past with her present. The film is extraordinary because of Cotillard and her magnanimous portrait of the famed chanteuse. As is the case with many Oscar winning performances from bio-pics (Reese Witherspoon’s overrated rendering of June Carter Cash a notable exception), there is a transformation at which you can do nothing but marvel. However, the prothesis aside (though seeing the frail and aged Piaf near death is jarring), Cotillard finds the humanity behind the legend, showing us that in spite of off-stage drama that colored her personality and aura, she was a passionate performer with an unending need to sing. (When she turns to her friend on her deathbed and knowingly asks “I’m never going to sing again, am I?” you are absolutely heart-broken). I do have to comment on Cotillard’s physicality. She has every gesture from the posture to the “singing through the hands” trademark down pat. I also wanted to comment: Edith Piaf was 4’8″. Marion Cotillard is about 5’7″ though you’d never know it from watching the film; she’s that convincing.

I didn’t know that much about Piaf prior to seeing the film, but have become fascinated. She is, in essence, the French Judy Garland (or was Garland the American Piaf?) She lived a torturous and brief existence, booze soaked and drug addled, mixing a powerful mezzo belt with the fire and intensity of an artist’s soul. The daughter of a street singer and an acrobat, she spent several years of her childhood being raised in her grandmother’s brothel. (A fascinating sequence; also, Piaf was struck blind due to infection, the religious prostitutes raised money to send her on a Pilgrimage to St. Thérèse de Lisieux). The superlatives applied to what will become Cotillard’s most famous role have all but exhausted the thesauri in the world. You’ve read the reviews and I won’t add to them. The accolades and awards are deserved; and Marion is a treasure to behold. Taking us through the dimensional world of a struggling insecure artist who’s temper and alcoholism are juxtaposed with moments of such vulnerability that all you want to do is hug Piaf. (It is during these moments where I feel Cotillard is channeling Giuletta Masina’s Gelsomina from La Strada, which is an extraordinary achievement that lesser actors couldn’t begin to fathom). The film, though doesn’t end just with her death, it is interspersed with her world-premiere performance of another signature song “Non, je ne regrette rien” (which translated means “No, I regret nothing”). Superb.

Trivia for the musical fans out there, Piaf’s close friend and composer Marguerite Monnot (played in the film by Marie-Armelle Deguy) who wrote the music for many of Piaf’s major pieces (most notably “Hymne à L’Amour,” with lyric by Piaf) became world-famous as the composer of the delightful musical comedy Irma La Douce which, composed in 1956, became the first French musical since the operettas of Offenbach to achieve world-wide popularity.

See the movie. Rejoice in the music. Marvel at Marion Cotillard.

Dorothy Loudon: An Appreciation

The American musical had a bright spot with this fearless comedienne-actress who could have you howling with laughter one moment and crying your eyes out the next. (Case in point; look at her signature roles – Miss Hannigan in Annie and Bea in Ballroom. About as night and day as you could imagine). Dorothy Loudon managed to survive a string of early flops: the prophetically titled Nowhere to Go But Up that lasted two weeks, The Fig Leaves Are Falling which ran a whopping four performances (yet garnered Loudon her first Tony nomination). She was the best thing about Lolita, My Love a decent if ill-advised adaptation of Nabokov’s novel, which opened and closed out of town in Boston. There is a recording of her performing the showstopping “Sur Le Quais”, a Gallic romp for Charlotte Haze in the middle of the first act. After playing Edith in a short-lived revival of The Women in 1973 (opposite Kim Hunter, Alexis Smith, Rhonda Fleming and Myrna Loy), she spent the mid-70s touring. Mike Nichols personally asked her to audition for the role of Miss Hannigan in Annie and took a supporting role and made it a star turn, triumphing at the the 1977 Tony awards over co-star Andrea McArdle. The success of Annie brought Michael Bennett and Ballroom calling. Though the show was a failure, her performance was highly lauded and the only thing that prevented her from winning the Tony was the juggernaut of Sweeney Todd and Angela Lansbury. Incidentally enough, her next job would be replacing Angela in Sweeney. She played opposite Katharine Hepburn in The West Side Waltz, took on Patricia Routledge’s role of Dotty Otley in the Broadway premiere of Noises Off and was one of Jerry’s Girls. One song that she got to sing in the latter was the highly irreverent and politically incorrect “Have a Nice Day.” Cut from La Cage Aux Folles early in its Boston previews, the song was an expression of a character’s bigotry, with a lyrical punchline so offensive that only someone of Loudon’s ability could make it funny. She rarely appeared on film, but made an impression as Carol Burnett’s replace on The Garry Moore Show in the ’60s and was a perennial favorite at the Tony awards. She also was featured on many Ben Bagley recordings, as well as many cast recordings and compilation albums produced by Bruce Kimmel in the 1990s. Loudon’s final appearance on Broadway was in the first preview of the Lincoln Center revival of Dinner at Eight. Due to her failing health, was forced to withdraw and Marian Seldes stepped in. She died in November 2003 at the age of 70, losing her battle with cancer. The following May, at the Theatre World awards, she received a tribute in the closing of the ceremony by Peter Filichia, which prompted a spontaneous full-house standing ovation in her memory. (I was there). One of the great disappointments in my theatre-going career is having missed out on the opportunity to see her perform live. Enjoy these two clips of her bringing down the house. The first is her performance at Sondheim – A Celebration at Carnegie Hall in 1992, where she puts a new spin on “Losing My Mind” and “You Drive a Person Crazy.” The second is much-talked about performance from the 1983 Tony awards. The evening was a celebration of George Gershwin, as the Uris Theatre became the Gershwin Theatre, and the line-up featured many stars performing various songs. Loudon had the choice task of performing this obscure little Gershwin number, “Vodka.” (I would post her “Fifty Percent” from the 1979 Tony awards, as it’s a devastating and captivating performance – when the Tony’s allowed performers to perform entire songs… but the youtube clip is of an inferior quality).

Dorothy Loudon: An Appreciation

The American musical had a bright spot with this fearless comedienne-actress who could have you howling with laughter one moment and crying your eyes out the next. (Case in point; look at her signature roles – Miss Hannigan in Annie and Bea in Ballroom. About as night and day as you could imagine). Loudon managed to survive a string of early flops: the prophetically titled Nowhere to Go But Up that lasted two weeks, The Fig Leaves Are Falling which ran a whopping four performances (yet garnered Loudon her first Tony nomination). She was the best thing about Lolita, My Love a decent if ill-advised adaptation of Nabokov’s novel, which opened and closed out of town in Boston. There is a recording of her performing the showstopping “Sur Le Quais”, a Gallic romp for Charlotte Haze in the middle of the first act. After playing Edith in a short-lived revival of The Women in 1973 (opposite Kim Hunter, Alexis Smith, Rhonda Fleming and Myrna Loy), she spent the mid-70s touring. Mike Nichols personally asked her to audition for the role of Miss Hannigan in Annie and took a supporting role and made it a star turn, triumphing at the the 1977 Tony awards over co-star Andrea McArdle. The success of Annie brought Michael Bennett and Ballroom calling. Though the show was a failure, her performance was highly lauded and the only thing that prevented her from winning the Tony was the juggernaut of Sweeney Todd and Angela Lansbury. Incidentally enough, her next job would be replacing Angela in Sweeney. She played opposite Katharine Hepburn in The West Side Waltz, took on Patricia Routledge’s role of Dotty Otley in the Broadway premiere of Noises Off and was one of Jerry’s Girls. One song that she got to sing in the latter was the highly irreverent and politically incorrect “Have a Nice Day.” Cut from La Cage Aux Folles early in its Boston previews, the song was an expression of a character’s bigotry, with a lyrical punchline so offensive that only someone of Loudon’s ability could make it funny. She rarely appeared on film, but made an impression as Carol Burnett’s replace on The Garry Moore Show in the ’60s and was a perennial favorite at the Tony awards. She also was featured on many Ben Bagley recordings, as well as many cast recordings and compilation albums produced by Bruce Kimmel in the 1990s. Loudon’s final appearance on Broadway was in the first preview of the Lincoln Center revival of Dinner at Eight. Due to her failing health, was forced to withdraw and Marian Seldes stepped in. She died in November 2003 at the age of 70, losing her battle with cancer. The following May, at the Theatre World awards, she received a tribute in the closing of the ceremony by Peter Filichia, which prompted a spontaneous full-house standing ovation in her memory. (I was there). One of the great disappointments in my theatre-going career is having missed out on the opportunity to see her perform live. Enjoy these two clips of her bringing down the house. The first is her performance at Sondheim – A Celebration at Carnegie Hall in 1992, where she puts a new spin on “Losing My Mind” and “You Drive a Person Crazy.” The second is much-talked about performance from the 1983 Tony awards. The evening was a celebration of George Gershwin, as the Uris Theatre became the Gershwin Theatre, and the line-up featured many stars performing various songs. Loudon had the choice task of performing this obscure little Gershwin number, “Vodka.” (I would post her “Fifty Percent” from the 1979 Tony awards, as it’s a devastating and captivating performance – when the Tony’s allowed performers to perform entire songs… but the youtube clip is of an inferior quality).