Tag: John Cullum

Barbara Harris in “On a Clear Day You Can See Forever”

I’m a big fan of Barbara Harris, make no bones about it. She’s a fascinating performer with a unique comic sensibility. For musical theatre fans, she’s most famous for her two back to back shows On a Clear Day You Can See Forever and The Apple Tree, earning Tony nominations for both (and a win for the latter). These are performances that theatregoers of the 1960s are still talking about today. I think in part it’s because Harris never returned to Broadway after The Apple Tree (Walter Kerr deemed her performance in the Bock & Harnick show “the square root of noisy sex”).

Harris found relative stardom in Hollywood in Robert Altman’s Nashville, Alfred Hitchcock’s Family Plot (as a phony medium), and as Jodie Foster’s mom in the first Freaky Friday. She was also Oscar nominated in 1970 for Who is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?, but shifted out of show business in the 80s and 90s (her last film role was in Grosse Point Blank in 1997). In a 2002 interview she claimed that she was more interested in the acting process than fame or even being successful, and says she doesn’t miss performing (definitely our loss).

Here’s a glimpse at her performance in On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, from a Bell Telephone Hour special on Alan Jay Lerner in 1966. She is joined by co-star John Cullum presenting a series of numbers (“Hurry! It’s Lovely Up Here!,” “Melinda,” “On the S.S. Bernard Cohn,” “What Did I Have That I Don’t Have?” and the title song). The musical itself is truly original – Lerner was interested in exploring ESP and reincarnation. Originally I Picked a Daisy, it was to have a music by Richard Rodgers. However, Burton Lane eventually wrote the music (Lerner and Lane previously worked on the 1951 musical Royal Wedding for MGM).

The show played the Mark Hellinger Theatre for 280 performances. There was chaos during the try-out in Boston. Lerner was taking amphetamines at the time, and that got in the way of his writing. Original leading man Louis Jordan was let go in Boston, as were several other actors whose roles were eliminated. The show opened in NY to less than stellar reviews, but Harris’ kooky Daisy, a girl who hears phones before they ring and can talk flowers out of the ground, charmed audiences. The original cast album has preserved the best of the show – namely the cast and the beautiful score. There have been attempts to revise the show almost from the outset, but will be seen in a wholly new version opening on Broadway in the fall (Daisy is now David). And the less said about the 1970 film adaptation, the better.

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Closing Night: “The Scottsboro Boys”

Scottsboro Hey

When I find myself really taken with a particular show, I make it a point to try to return to see it at its closing performance. The closing  is filled similar fans (as well as family and friends) who want to come back one last time to savor the theatrical magic that drew us in the first time around. I was startled when The Scottsboro Boys announced its closing notice two weeks ago; I had expected the show to last through the holiday season and well into Tony time. But after only 29 previews and 49 performances, the final Kander and Ebb musical set its last show at the Lyceum Theatre for December 12. In spite of some strong reviews and a vociferous audience response, the show couldn’t muster up an audience or advance sales. When asked if I wanted to go to the last show, I said yes immediately.

The musical is one of the best I have seen in the last few years. It was bold, daring and audacious while being literate, tuneful and clever. Kander and Ebb’s score, evoking the sounds of the South, is one of the best I’ve heard in some time and I think ranks with Chicago and Cabaret. There’s not a dud in the score, from the jubilant “Hey Hey Hey Hey!” opening to the chilling title number in the finale with its climactic and impactful use of blackface. (For what it’s worth, the minstrelsy was used in a way that spoke of empowerment and abandonment of the archaic and racist form of entertainment).

In one of the classiest gestures I’ve ever seen from an audience, there was a spontaneous full-house standing ovation for John Kander as he was led to his seat pre-show. It’s a moment in my theatregoing life that I will never forget. (To the Broadway producers out there – I’m still waiting for the NY premiere of The Visit). It was a moving gesture to a man whose 50 year career is synonymous with Broadway excellence (starting as dance arranger for the original production of Gypsy). It struck me that many of Kander’s contemporaries haven’t had new work on Broadway in years. Jerry Herman’s last musical (La Cage) opened on Broadway when I was less than two months old. Bock and Harnick never wrote another musical together after The Rothschilds in 1970. Even the master, Stephen Sondheim hasn’t had a brand new Broadway musical since Passion in 1994.

Kander and Ebb have been represented continuously on Broadway since 1996, when the still-running revival of Chicago opened. They’ve had three new musicals have opened on the Rialto in that time (Steel Pier, Curtains and Scottsboro). When not on Broadway, other new musicals have been in gestation in regional theatres – including Over and Over/All About Us (adaptation of Thornton Wilder’s The Skin of Our Teeth) and The Visit. Scottsboro marked the final debut of a Kander and Ebb score and brings to a close one of the greatest chapters in musical theatre history.

There’s that final performance quality for anyone who has been involved on either side of the footlights. Energies and emotions are high and that usually channels itself into a riveting performance with a heightened electricity and pace that adds to the special quality of the day. This was no exception. Numbers received extenuous applause – the opening number, “Shout” and “Never Too Late” all but stopped the show dead. “Go Back Home” is the loveliest ballad I have heard in quite some time and has an emotional resonance which brought many in the house to tears.

As for the cast, if there was yet again ever a reason for a Tony Award for Best Ensemble, this is it. John Cullum guides the evening as the Interlocuter, the sole white actor onstage. Colman Domingo and Forrest McClendon were brilliant as Mr. Bones and Mr. Tambo. As for the nine actors playing the Scottsboro Boys, all are exceptionally talented singers, dancers and actors. Seeing it a second time allowed me the opportunity of picking up elements on the periphery, including the really striking way in which The Lady is used throughout the show (and given a beautiful, mostly silent portrayal by Sharon Washington), often observing on the periphery. It was especially interesting this time just to see how much thought went into the character’s function (for those who didn’t see it, it was ultimately revealed that she was Rosa Parks).

The classiness of the evening continued through the curtain call, which brought the entire cast and creative team together with members of the production team. After glasses of wine were passed around, Kander offered a toast to his late collaborator Fred Ebb (who died in 2004) then librettist David Thompson offered a toast to the real Scottsboro Boys and finally Stroman offered a toast to the audience. Of the many closings I’ve attended (this was my 14th), this was the first with such a gesture and it was one of the most understated and effective ways to celebrate the run of a show I’ve seen.

There has been talk of The Scottsboro Boys returning in the spring, just in time for Tony recognition. Many succes d’estime shows talk about tours and return engagements when forced to close and nothing comes of it. However, this time I would really love to see it come to fruition. Scottsboro was not seen by nearly enough people. This is a bit premature as there are many, many musicals left to open this season, but I really do hope that Kander and Ebb take home the Best Score Tony this spring. (I’m also hoping Stroman is double-nominated in one of her finest outings as director/choreographer). It may have run only 49 performances, but The Scottsboro Boys have set the bar exceedingly high. I only hope the Tony nominating committee and the Tony voters aren’t in their usual out of sight, out of mind mentality when it comes to fall shows that have closed.

After the show, I went to Angus to decompress with dramaturge Russ Dembin, my web designer Chris Van Patten and a few of Chris’ friends. Sitting in the bar in what could be best described as stunned wide-eyed silence. There was a lot to process, but eventually we talked about their reactions to the show which were overwhelmingly enthusiastic and also just depressed at the premature closing. But I do have a feeling that while this original production is short-lived, the musical will maintain a reputation that other noble failures have achieved. There is early talk of a film adaptation to be made by Oscar nominated director Lee Daniels. But even if that weren’t to come to fruition, The Scottsboro Boys does have that one important link that keeps a musical from total obscurity: an original cast album.

Say Goodbye to “The Scottsboro Boys”

While I didn’t expect The Scottsboro Boys to run for years, I was still quite taken aback and shocked to read that the new musical was closing. The Kander and Ebb show – their final collaboration- will shutter on December 12 after only 49 performances and 29 previews. With a book by David Thompson and superlative direction and choreography by Susan Stroman, Scottsboro told the story of these nine men who were falsely accused, tried and convicted for the rape of two white women, in one of the darkest chapters in the history of racial America.

Drawing upon historical record and fact, the creative team built one of the most original musicals that has been seen on Broadway in quite some time. The musical is presented as a minstrel show, using minstrel techniques as a framing device to both comment and condemn the incident with an Interlocutor, cakewalks and even a shocking, gut-wrenching use of black-face. The musical first appeared at the Vineyard Theatre last spring followed by a pre-Broadway run at the Guthrie in Minneapolis this summer. It started previews on October 7 and opened to mostly positive (if somewhat reserved) reviews on Halloween.

I guess it’s the nature of the business these days, but it seems that producers are either unwilling or unable to allow a show that’s not particularly mainstream to build an audience via word of mouth. Last season’s revivals of Finian’s Rainbow and Ragtime were met with a similar fate. None of these shows was what I would deem well-publicized, and their exceptional quality alone didn’t seem to help draw audiences. Interestingly, all three deal with racial injustice in one way or another. (Another show dealing with race relations, Memphis, the only new musical with an original score last season, won the Best Musical Tony and is still running).

Oscar Hammerstein II’s adaptation of Edna Ferber’s Show Boat took daring strides in presenting the famed “Miscegenation scene” involving a biracial principal character and also integrating black characters with white characters. Joe and Queenie are more than servants, they are part of the Show Boat family and are treated with dignity and respect by the white proprietors. Other musicals have been less successful: Hallelujah, Baby! and 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue come immediately to mind as failures whose authors’ good intentions came off as expressions of condescending white liberal guilt.

Even the 1993 revival of Show Boat directed by Harold Prince (with Stroman’s choreography) was met with protestors who felt the show was racist, similarly to those who protested Scottsboro a few weeks ago. Never in my experiences with musical theatre have I experienced a musical that dealt with race relations with unflinching honesty; uncompromising and unyielding about the ugly core at the center of the story. The creators of Scottsboro were not out to make light of this story; their use of the techniques is at once alienating and fascinating, forcing the audience to confront an ugly past that in our politically correct age we’d rather not think about.

‘Post-racial America’ is a term I’ve heard a lot, especially since Barack Obama was elected President. However, I don’t know if that’s a term that rings true. I’m hopeful for equality and great progress has been made in the 80 years since the Scottsboro incident. But it’s foolish to neglect the fact that racism is still a problem in the U.S. and may always be one. Whether it’s some idiot using an ethnic slur over a Wal-Mart intercom, or accusations of racism in government hierarchies and political parties or physical violence, there are still many issues that need to be worked out. If you do a news search for the term “racist attack” you might be surprised at the number of recent articles that pop up – and on an international level. Platitudes only get us so far. Understanding what has been is the only way we can learn and therefore make strides for what should and must be a better tomorrow. The Scottsboro Boys is a show that can start the conversation we should all be having about inequality in America.

When the show closes, it will mark the shortest run of any Kander & Ebb show since 70 Girls 70 in 1971. I’m a bit surprised that the producers didn’t even want to give it an extra few weeks. The two weeks around Christmas and New Year’s Day are the two most lucrative in the Broadway season. I recall seeing Souvenir at the same theatre five years ago – a show that had been struggling since opening and had posted its notice – selling out an entire Wednesday evening house. The two kids next to me admitted that they had never heard of the show but couldn’t get tickets to anything else. No expectations, but they wanted to see a Broadway show. During that time, tourists will even see the less popular vehicles. It’s a glorious time. Why they chose to close before Christmas is beyond me. I say give it an extra month, at least.

Another thing about the show, and something I had a great conversation with Jesse North of Stage Rush about after we saw the first preview was its marketability. How would the producers promote the show? In spite of a great TV commercial, I never saw anyone from the cast appearing on television shows. If The Scottsboro Boys has anything it has a superlative score and one of the best new ballads in years: “Go Back Home.” Where were the appearances on Live with Regis and Kelly or The View to give audiences a sample? Even after protestors took on the show, no one it seems, except Whoopi Goldberg, seemed to hop on the national bandwagon championing the show and its message. 

Just a few days ago I was thanking the producers of this show and Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson for risking their shirts and I stand by that. But why are they throwing in the towel so soon? I also think it’s just a little bit Scrooge-like to basically fire a team of employees at the peak of the holiday season. It was a great gesture for the Weisslers to take on the new Kander & Ebb show, especially since the revival of Chicago has given them more money than they’ll ever need. However, it would be an even greater gesture if they put some of that money into running Scottsboro for a while longer. Considering the glorious Lyceum, a house I love, is one of the least desirable locations for any Broadway show, I can’t imagine a stop-clause had anything to do with it. Closing the show now will kill its chances at the Tony Awards in June. We saw it happen last year and the year before. For the voters: out of sight, out of mind.

Fortunately the show has a wonderful cast album of its Off-Broadway production and will no doubt become a title that will be attempted by regional theatres. I plan to see the show in the next two weeks. If you seriously care about the American musical, so should you.

First Preview Tonight: “The Scottsboro Boys”

I’ll be in the audience at the Lyceum Theatre tonight for the first Broadway preview of The Scottsboro Boys, Kander and Ebb’s final musical. (Many thanks to my buddy Jesse from Stage Rush). It’s a risk for a musical: telling the story of a group of young black men falsely convicted of the rape of two white women in 1931. The show, which was produced off-Broadway at the Vineyard Theatre last season, tells this harrowing story of racial injustice with an ironic, fascinating concept: as a minstrel show. Taking this archaic, racist antedecent of burlesque, the creative team uses it to comment on our nation’s racial history. The cast is predominantly African American, with one white man (two-time Tony winner John Cullum headlines as the Interlocutor).

Word of mouth from off-Broadway and from it summer run at the Guthrie Theatre has been tremendous. Even reviews that were less than positive have fueled my interest in the show. When I read the NY Times review of the off-Broadway run, my reaction was “This show sounds incredible.” I’ve been greatly excited by the show’s audacity and compelled by the story being told. And given Kander and Ebb’s ability to tackle brave and daring ideas with Cabaret, Chicago and Kiss of the Spider Woman, a daring, cutting edge musical like Scottsboro is an outstanding swan song (though I hope someone brings The Visit to NY).

David Thompson supplied the book, Susan Stroman the direction and choreography. The cast features Joshua Henry, who is replacing Brandon Victor Dixon as Haywood Patterson (Dixon left to star in the upcoming Ray Charles musical). The original cast album comes out on Tuesday, which represents the off-Broadway version of the show. It’s one to have: the score is beautiful, bold and brilliant with memorable songs and some haunting arrangements. Plus, there’s a bonus track of the late Fred Ebb singing “Go Back Home,” the show’s standout ballad.

This is a brief clip of the cast (with David Anthony Brinkley as the Interlocutor) performing the opening number “Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey” from the summer run at the Guthrie :

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Writer and dancer Emily Frankel, who blogs at Em’s Talkery, is married to John Cullum. They get together once a week to film a small vlog for AIR Broadway casting and her site. In this particular entry, they talk about Cullum’s rehearsal process and preparation for the Broadway run:

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Finally, here is a clip of Brandon Victor Dixon on Theatre Talk singing the “Go Back Home” which has haunted me since I first heard it:

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And Then You’re Gone…And Then You’re Gone…


It was announced late this afternoon that the smash hit play August: Osage County will be closing on June 28 at the Music Box Theatre after 18 previews and 648 performances. The play won five Tonys including Best Play and the coveted Pulitzer Prize for Drama and is one of my most treasured theatrical experiences of all time.

The closing announcement comes as a bit of a surprise, especially since new star Phylicia Rashad has received so many raves for her performance as Violet. The play, which imported from Steppenwolf in fall 2007, was originally to be a sixteen week limited engagement at the Imperial Theatre, but proved to be such a huge success that it transferred next door to the Music Box for an open ended run in April ’08. For a three act play without any stars and a running time of three hours and twenty minutes, this run is quite a feat.

I’ve had a special affinity for the writing of Tracy Letts, the direction of Anna D. Shapiro and the acting of the ensemble, from Deanna Dunagan and Rondi Reed to Elizabeth Ashley and Rashad, all the while in utter awe of Amy Morton. It has been a show and a production that will stay with me always, with so many moments of sheer tragedy and sheer comedy forever etched on my mind.

Those of you who never got to NY for the play, never fear: Broadway replacement Estelle Parsons will be headlining the national tour starting this August. Plus, Hollywood is working on a film adaptation (though I still think the original production should have been filmed for PBS). For fans of Steppenwolf and Letts, there are reasons to celebrate as they are bringing his latest play Superior Donuts to NY this fall.

I have been blessed to have been there for August on its opening night at the Imperial on December 4, 2007, so it feel right that I’ll be there at the final performance. So as John Cullum and Kimberley Guerrero take their seats in Beverly’s den on June 28, I will experience the show for the seventh and last time in this incarnation, a beautiful and cathartic bookend.

A play like this comes along so rarely. Plus, there are some great discounts if you want to rush to see it before it goes! I hope to see you there…

She’s Mean, She’s a Mess and Now She’s Phylicia


“Some people get antagonized by the truth.”

That is one of the many truth-bombs dropped at a fateful, disastrous dinner at the Weston house by matriarch Violet. You see, Violet is angry. She has cancer of the mouth, a volatile marriage, residual issues that stem from her problems with her mother, and a penchant for painkillers – any and all. Well the truth is, the play is still one of the most galvanizing theatrical experiences on Broadway, whose volatility remains unmatched by anything that has opened since.

August: Osage County, last year’s enormous Pulitzer and Tony-winning success is still playing at the Music Box Theatre and a new mama has joined the company. To put it mildly, she will cut you. Tony-winner Phylicia Rashad seemed an unlikely choice to fill shoes occupied by Tony-winner Deanna Dunagan and her stellar replacement Estelle Parsons. There were people who felt that there were too many racial undertones in the character for an actress of color to play the part. However, to those naysayers, I offer a polite “phooey.” (Spoiler alert pending in the next paragraph).

From the moment Rashad stumbles down the stairs in a drug-addled stupor and viciously turns on John Cullum, any and all preconceived ideas about her casting are erased from memory. (*Spoiler alert* For the first time, I thought “So this is why he killed himself” *End Spoiler*). This play does offer the character the opportunity to voice some politically incorrect comments about “Indians,” but color is innocuous here. Phylicia Rashad is once again playing an earth mother, but an earth mother who has experienced torment and disappointment in her life and is unafraid to express it or take out her rage on her family. Fact of the matter: the actress is nothing short of revelatory.

Rashad marks the fourth Violet I’ve seen. I took in Dunagan twice, her opening night and final performance; Parsons I saw twice and on one occasion earlier this year saw the capable understudy Susanne Marley, whose performance is molded on Dunagan’s. Each actress has brought something different to the part. Dunagan was selfish, clingy and ultimately childish under a bitingly caustic veneer. Parsons was stronger with a passive aggressive approach to her attacks, with a final breakdown of considerable pathos.

Now revitalizing the production at the Music Box (the understudy performance was strong, but not the special event the show is intended to be), is Rashad, also the first actor in the production to receive above the title billing. The last time I saw her onstage was in the 2008 revival of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. While enjoyable, her performance was more caricature than character and in that I found my worries regarding August.

Let it be said, there is nothing to fear here. Rashad’s Violet is angry, but she is also no nonsense, with eyes of frigid sobriety defying her lucid state of mind. Rashad brings great emotional wealth to the character in the first act, where I heard and understood lines for the first time. There are times when you might even feel sorry for her. Then you get to the climactic second act, where she proceeds to eviscerate everyone in sight. It is here that Violet’s rage comes to a boiling point. She may be loaded on her painkillers, but her character knows exactly what she’s doing. She is simultaneously taking out her aggression on those people readily available while masochistically setting herself up for a violent confrontation.

I was seated on the left center aisle for this entire scene and had a beautifully uncompromising view of Rashad’s face for the duration of the twenty minute scene. The actress spoke volumes with her steely eyes, and in her anger she was unpredictable and at times downright frightening. A sideways glance from her Violet is enough to wither anyone into cowering silence, with one notable exception. (More on her later). Hers is a performance to be reckoned with, and has brought a new invigorating dynamic to the cast, keeping the entire ensemble on their toes. You couldn’t ask for better theatre.

Elizabeth Ashley has put away her walker from Dividing the Estate and donned a gaudy wig to play Violet’s sister, Mattie Fae. Larger than life, Ashley’s Mattie Fae is closer in form to originator Rondi Reed’s characterization and is a vast improvement on previous replacement Molly Regan. She brings gauche earthiness and Southern sensibility to the part and as a result, Mattie is once again a colorful, crowd pleasing favorite. Though her performance is brushed with broader strokes than her predecessors, she still garners the audience’s sympathy in her grounded last scene.

John Cullum offers the best portrayal of Beverly Weston since the late Dennis Letts, with a folk-like whimsy undercut by resigned melancholy. Anne Berkowitz is Jean and is the most true to life teen I’ve seen in the role. Brian Kerwin is the only original cast member to stay with the production all the way through, playing Steve with the same combination of cockiness and sleaze.

Lots of original cast members have returned. Kimberley Guerrero is still playing Johnna, the Native American hired by Beverly to look after Violet and is a quiet source of comfort and solace for the family. Mariann Mayberry and Sally Murphy also returned as Violet’s two other daughters. Mayberry is still hilarious and devastating as the insecure youngest Karen, though she’s given up her bit with the olives. When she defiantly tells Barbara she’s going to Belize, it is nothing short of heartbreaking.

Murphy; however, needs to be reigned in. Her performance as Ivy has gone so wildly over the top that she switches between two levels: calm deadpan and incoherent high-pitched screeching. Whenever her emotions are vaulted, her voice jumps an octave and lines are lost. It’s glaringly inappropriate especially when juxtaposed with the more nuanced work of her scene partners.

Also returning to the cast is Amy Morton, whose titanic performance as eldest daughter Barbara, clearly her mother’s daughter is once again the emotional anchor of the piece. Finding herself in a failing marriage, handling her rebellious teen daughter while unsuccessfully trying to hold her family together, Morton is still giving the production’s most profound characterization. From her entrance to her exit, Morton is a fully-dimensional force of nature, ready to attack both her unfaithful husband and mother, but also herself. When Morton goes head to head with Rashad, it is as close to onstage fireworks as one is likely to find. (The only other onstage confrontation that comes close are the leading ladies of Mary Stuart). Her second act curtain line is still a shocking, earth shattering war cry that must be experienced live to be fully appreciated.

Morton’s is the sort of performance that comes along so rarely. So palpably honest, the line between acting and reality become forever blurred. Actors of the Golden Age rave about their memories of Laurette Taylor in The Glass Menagerie; I offer Amy Morton in August: Osage County.

Rashad is contracted through August 23. Unfortunately, it looks as if she can’t extend due to her commitment to the London engagement of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof this fall. First timers will be floored by the experience as the staging is still taut and high octane; repeat viewers (this was my sixth time seeing the play, remember) will be more than pleased at the shape the play is in. The cast still functions as an organic ensemble, with the relationships between the veterans and newcomer Rashad so functionally dysfunctional, you’d think she originated the part.

The play is still one of the most hilarious and one of the most gutwrenching dramatic experiences onstage in NY. Chances are I will most likely return a seventh time. Rashad and Morton are worth it.

Yet even more "August" casting news

It was announced this evening that two-time Tony winner John Cullum will be taking over the role of Beverly Weston for a limited one week, 8 performance run while Michael McGuire takes a vacation. Talk about ideal casting, even if only for a week. Though with McGuire’s pending departure from the NY to go to London, perhaps Cullum will be taking over the role on a more permanent basis…?