Tag: Angela Lansbury

Opening Night!

I have returned! To celebrate, I will be taking in the opening night of Blithe Spirit at the Shubert Theatre this evening with Sarah, Roxie and friends. The revival of the famed Noel Coward farce stars Christine Ebersole, Rupert Everett and our beloved Angela Lansbury with Jayne Atkinson and Simon Jones under the direction of Michael Blakemore. I am looking forward to this production moreso than any other this season. Angie is taking on the role of the eccentric medium Madame Arcati, a role originated by Margaret Rutherford in London (who preserved it in the film adaptation) and Mildred Natwick on Broadway (who played the part in a 1950s television production that starred Coward, Claudette Colbert and Lauren Bacall). Geraldine Page took on the role in the 1987 revival, with Patricia Conolly taking over after Page’s unexpected death during the run. The 1964 musical version of the piece, High Spirits starred Beatrice Lillie in her final stage appearance as Arcati, with Tammy Grimes and Edward Woodward. The musical, which received a reading with Roundabout last year, isn’t as strong as the original play. However, it’s score is quite enjoyable; containing one of my favorite overtures and favorite eleven o’clock numbers (the bluesy, showstopping “Home Sweet Heaven”).

"I Was Never in the Chorus"


I post this rare shot of Anne Francine and Angela Lansbury performing “Bosom Buddies” in Mame for my own Moon Lady and fervent Mame/Lansbury enthusiast, Sarah, who I think will appreciate this more than anyone else. In talking about the character of Vera Charles with a friend of mine, I decided to google image Ms. Francine and lo and behold, this shot popped up. Francine, born into a wealthy Main Line Philadelphia family, was a noted actress and sophisticated nightclub singer who replaced Tony-winner Bea Arthur as eternally inebriated Vera about a year into the original run. She toured with Lansbury in 1968 and subsequently returned for the remainder of the show’s Broadway run . She also reprised the role in the short-lived revival, again with Angie, in 1983. She considered this the favorite role of her career. Other Broadway appearances included By the Beautiful Sea, Tenderloin, The Great Sebastians and the 1987 Lincoln Center revival of Anything Goes. Her film work was scarce (she was in Juliet of the Spirits, The Savages and Crocodile Dundee); however, some of you may recognize her as Barbara Eden’s archnemesis Flora Simpson Reilly on the TV series “Harper Valley, PTA.”

Now, getting down to business, who should play Vera in the next revival…?

"A Little Priest"

I’ll never forget the night I watched Sweeney Todd the first time. I was home on break from college and had borrowed the VHS tape (heh, anyone?) from the library, figuring that I might as well give this musical a viewing. I hadn’t heard that much about it, except for what I’d read about it in the MTI licensing catalogue in my high school drama teacher’s classroom. It was the dark one about the people being turned into meat pies. Plus, there was a girl on our drama executive board who wanted us to do it. However, the director was adamant – he would never do Sondheim. I didn’t think much of it until my first spring break a year later and figured with little else to do aside from some homework, why not?

I popped it into the VCR late at night after everyone else had gone to bed and settled in. Within minutes I was entranced – by the prologue, the dark, gritty quality of the set and costume design. Everything. However that night I ended up watching only the first act. I was so mesmerized by “Epiphany” and “A Little Priest” I ended up rewinding and rewatching those 12 minutes for almost two hours. My mind blown at the genius, especially in the structure of the act one finale, but in it’s brilliant word play, it’s bouncing waltz melody and the duplicitous music hall entertainment provided (we are loving it; all the while we’re accepting what they’re actually singing about – genius).

“A Little Priest” may very well be my favorite Sondheim song. It’s certainly one of the best list songs I’ve ever heard. When I was a guest lecturer in New Paltz and gave my talk on Sondheim, I would make it a point to show the entire sequence. It was always fascinating to see; the last time I did it, the theatre students and some of the more literate really understood the underlying Juvenalean tone of the number, while I had others who were disgusted, including two girls who actually had to leave the room. Truth be told, it was one of the most memorable moments of my collegiate life. I loved it!

Anyway, here are Tony winners Angela Lansbury and Len Cariou in Hal Prince’s original Tony winning staging of the 1979 Tony winning Best Musical Sweeney Todd giving the act one finale that darkly delicious spin:

Home Sweet Heaven

Alright, so it’s not a revival of High Spirits, but I can barely contain my excitement at the idea of Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit coming back to Broadway. The 1941 play, about the chaos that ensues when a man’s dead wife is resurrected during a seance, was last seen on Broadway in 1987 starring Richard Chamberlain, Blythe Danner and Geraldine Page.

The revival is going to be directed by Michael Blakemore and it was just announced today that the production is going to star Christine Ebersole as Elvira, the first (deceased) wife. I’ve heard the producers want Angela Lansbury for the role of the eccentric medium Madame Arcati, a role written for Margaret Rutherford (and subsequently played by Mildred Natwick in the original Broadway cast and by Bea Lillie in the musical adaptation, High Spirits in 1964). Lansbury has apparently gone on record saying she wouldn’t take on any more stage roles after the taxing production of Deuce. Let’s hope that producer Jeffrey Richards and Blakemore can convince her otherwise!

Other casting is pending. Any thoughts on who should round out the play?

Quote of the Day, Emmy Edition

It’s a fact that awards aren’t necessarily the best indicator of quality. That doesn’t make it any less shocking that Angela Lansbury has been nominated 18 times but never won an Emmy

After seven decades in showbiz, she’s a living legend, with four Tonys, six Golden Globes and three Oscar nods. But the role she’s most known for — mystery novelist-cum-amateur-sleuth Jessica Fletcher on ‘Murder, She Wrote’ — earned her 12 Emmy noms (no wins), for a career total of 18 … and she never complained like Susan Lucci.

– AOL’s profile of this weekend’s Emmy awards

It really is a travesty that the highest award in television has never been bestowed on Lansbury, but looking at the other actors in this list, she enjoys the esteemed company of Gracie Allen, George Burns, Sherman Hemsley, Michael Landon (who was never Emmy-nominated once over the course of three series, 652 episodes of television!), Bob Newhart, Jane Kaczmarek, Jason Alexander, Buddy Ebsen, Desi Arnaz, Andy Griffith and Jackie Gleason.

Well, there’s always a place on Broadway for Angie. So come back to us as Madame Arcati in the spring revival of Blithe Spirit and clear your mantle for a fifth Tony!!