They're Playing Our Song- Page 3

[morosco]

Posted: 8/27/06 at 8:13pm

Here's some interesting trivia. On the original cast recording Eydie Gorme sings the last few notes on WHEN YOU'RE IN MY ARMS because it was not really in Lucie's range. . . In the theatre it didn't matter. . but would've been noticeable on a recording.

[Buscee]

Posted: 8/27/06 at 8:26pm

When you apply for the rights, you can also rent the sound effects, including Johnny's reprise of the song. Its an additional $50 a show rental. I actually purchased on Ebay the LP that was sent out before the show opened, its a DEMO recording, and It's Johnny Mathis version of the song on it. I thought Stockard Channing was great in the role, but I believe it wasnt a pleasant experiance for her.

[alterego]

Posted: 8/27/06 at 9:31pm

Yes morosco that is the rendering I was talking about.

Some more trivia. The cast album was made in LA during the show's tryout. When they went into the studio, Marvin was unsure that the girls would get the sound he wanted, so for a while sitting in a limo in the carpark next door was Bonnie Pointer, Liza Minelli and another (Cher?)I can't recall at the moment. They weren't used. When they got to recording the bows they discovered only one of the girls could play the toy pianos, the other two had been faking it.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 8/27/06 at 11:32pm

Nine bloody songs. Nine. And the show still holds us in rapture decades later. Pay attention modern composers. Less is often more.

Rodgers and Hart were the same. No more than 12 numbers per show is all they needed to rock the joint.

[alterego]

Posted: 8/28/06 at 9:00pm

...and isn't it better when the actors stop and talk instead of singing the whole show.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 8/29/06 at 12:36am

I just re-read the script. It's hilarious, touching and really spots the songs so wonderfully. Simon really did some of his best work on musicals.

[Buscee]

Posted: 8/29/06 at 6:50am

It's a wonderful book. Its ashame it didnt win any Tony's. I think it only got 3 nominations, and Lucie Arnaz was totally snubbed. I guess if it had not been for Sweeney Todd It would have won some. I know it was nominated for Best Musical, and for Klein, but it definately derserved for Sets, Costumes, and Arnaz!

[ILUVTOMG]

Posted: 8/29/06 at 7:24am

Lucie was totally snubbed. they nominated tovah feldshuh for Sarava which hadn't even opened yet!!!! ridiculous. I remember seeing pics of stockard channing with long hair (instead of the sonia curls)...even her 'voices' were wearing long haired wigs. but by the time she opened in the show they were gone and replaced by curls. lucie also did something cute during the run - there's a joke in the first scene about her dress (a costume from the cherry orchard) being on backwards. well once tony roberts took over she started WEARING the top of the dress backwards. was very funny and, for once, the line made sense. damn i miss this show! IDINA! TAYE! WHERE ARE YOU??????

[Buscee]

Posted: 8/29/06 at 8:49am

The first time I saw it was with Tony Roberts and Lucie so yes she did wear her opening dress top backwards. I didnt realize she switched when Tony joined the cast. I also remember Stockard's long hair, Those pics were in front of the theatre, and also in the souvineer program. I remember Lucie saying that she hated to wear wigs, so she just curled her hair. The curly hair she said made it easier to give it the "Cut" look it needed for the second act. She started the "Sonia look" everyone after her wore the Lucie Arnaz Wig!

[ILUVTOMG]

Posted: 8/29/06 at 3:58pm

i remember reading that lucie hates to wear wigs which is why i'm surprised she's wearing one in DRS. even though she looks great in it. btw, more lucie hair trivia, when tony roberts took over the curls were gone and her hair was straight. she kind of pinned it up in the back for the 2nd act so it looked shorter but it wasn't as convincing as it was with the girls. if i can get to a scanner i'll scan pics of her from my tony roberts/lucie arnaz souvenir program. oh, and after klein left lucie got the final bow. and she more than earned it. and man oh man, as much as 'i love lucie' i would love to have seen debbie shapiro (gravitte) go on as sonia. lucie went a whole year without ever being out UNTIL the week after debbie left the cast and the new u/s rhonda farer (who i believe is now a psychologist although she did standby for carol burnett in putting it together) got to go on for a whole week.

[Buscee]

Posted: 8/29/06 at 5:01pm

They liked Rhonda so much, that she was the official replacement to Stockard Channing for a few months until Anita Gillette took over. Interesting bit of trivia..Stockard Channing was a last minute choice. Originally Neil Simon wanted Vicki Lawrence to replace Lucie Arnaz!

[Ruth Sherwood]

Posted: 8/29/06 at 5:06pm

The musical supervisor of "They're Playing Our Song" is a personal friend of mine, and she said the Lucie Arnaz sang everything, including "When Your in my Arms," and Eydie Gorme absolutely DID NOT do any of Lucie's singing. My friend was at the recording session (she can be heard playing the piano), so she would know.

I would love to see this show revived! Perhaps, with Susan Egan as Sonia.

Updated On: 8/29/06 at 05:06 PM

[morosco]

Posted: 8/29/06 at 7:03pm

"The musical supervisor...said the Lucie Arnaz sang everything...Eydie Gorme absolutely DID NOT do any of Lucie's singing."

Interesting. I based my information on the following email:

"Eydie Gorme sang the last few notes on WHEN YOUR IN MY ARMS. because it was not really in Lucie's range. . . In the theatre it didn't matter. . but would've been noticeable on a
recording.
Larry Blank
MD for the show"

I wonder who's right??

[morosco]

Posted: 8/29/06 at 7:18pm

And to further add to the confusion, this from Stephen Holden's New York Times review of Debbie Gravitte's cabaret act:
"The only moment in Debbie Gravitte's brassy new cabaret act when the singer sounds less than thrilled with the way her career has developed comes when she recalls having her voice on the original cast album of 'They're Playing Our Song' replaced by that of Eydie Gorme."

WTF? Now I'm really confused!


A Singer With Brass And Splash

[ILUVTOMG]

Posted: 8/29/06 at 8:25pm

AND let's not forget that debbie gravitte played Eyde Gorme in ISN'T SHE GREAT (with bette midler playing jackie susann) lol
lucie left they're playing our song suddenly because she was cast in the jazz singer movie. i remember reading at the time that stockard felt 'rushed.' rhonda farer was very good and got to play the role for 3 months between stockard and anita
(she even got her own souvenir brochure). btw, if anyone cares i saw the show roughly 30 times and never missed a new sonia or vernon. but no one ever beat lucie and klein. perfection.

[Buscee]

Posted: 8/29/06 at 9:41pm

I had seen the show close to Lucie's end of her run. I believe her departure was two-fold. She did get cast in the Jazz Singer, but she also got pregnant with her first born Simon Luckenbill. That pregnancy also kept Lucie out of the London Production. Stockard did feel rushed going into it, she was great in the part. I was told by a Doorman that Stockard was not happy and thought people were ought to get her because something fell bakstage in front of her. I thought that was wierd,but thats what I was told.

[alterego]

Posted: 8/29/06 at 9:47pm

Towards the end of Robert Kleins contract in SONG he and Lucie were not getting along at all. Just prior to the Act 1 curtain they are on the bed kissing when the phone rings (it is a call from Leon, Sonia's ex). Klein requested that the stage manager cue the telephone as soon as their lips meet so he didn't have to make contact a moment longer with Lucie than was necessary.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 8/29/06 at 10:41pm

I remember clearly as if it was yesterday walking out of the Uris after seeing "Sweeney Todd". I was moved and affected, but somehow, left cold. (Don't get me wrong, the show was amazing, BUT>>>)

I remember clearly practically floating out of the Imperial Theater having seen "Song." God, that was a wonderful night. We ended upin a booth at Ma Bell's discussing the show . I can remember the funniest line of the night was right at the opening. "I can understand the fact that she's one day late, it's the twenty minutes that's driving me insane."

It's funny the things you reember.

After that, we walked up to that theater souvenir shop on 47th or 48th, then off for drinks at Joe Allen.

Great night.

[alterego]

Posted: 8/30/06 at 3:21am

In the recording studio:

SONIA: Jesus, Vernon, do you expect me to split myself down the middle and offer you the part of your choice? I am a fairly attractive, intelligent, Twentieth Century woman, not, I pray to God, a broiled lobster. I am an entity. I come all assembled and complete. I work, walk, talk, make love and drive some people berserk. I am Sonia Walsk. Leave out the battery and you can play with me all you want, but the eyes won't light up.

...and...

VERNON: (to Phil the recording studio engineer- off stage): Phil, is there any coffee and Danish left in there?

PHIL: There's one Danish but I've ben using it as an ashtray.
Updated On: 8/30/06 at 03:21 AM

[Buscee]

Posted: 8/30/06 at 6:46am

I had heard that story too. My understanding was that Lucie was mad that Robert would change blocking etc. What I will say is you never heard her say anything. I remember Klein on the Tonight Show, and he was asked was there something going on. He said far from it! We did not get along! But she married a man who looks just like me!. I also believe Lucie had put some money in the show, and she knew that this show was very important to her career.

[ILUVTOMG]

Posted: 8/30/06 at 9:36am

i do remember reading somewhere that lucie had said during an interview that she and klein approach acting differently.. 'i play to the other actor and robert plays to the audience'
lucie seems like a very open, candid person but if she did make that comment i'm sure that added to the tension between them. also, speaking of hasty departures, i remember that tony roberts was announced as klein's replacement and would start in january of '80 then, suddenly, it was announced on a tuesday in Novemeber that klein's last perf would be that saturday and john hammil filled in for two weeks while roberts got ready and went into the show a month earlier than originally planned. glad to see that they've been reuniting for concerts, etc lately. they compliment eachother very well.

[alterego]

Posted: 8/30/06 at 9:38am

Yes, that is true, she did have money in the show. You can't help but wonder if she had been nominated and won the Tony what sort of Broadway career she might of had.

[ILUVTOMG]

Posted: 8/30/06 at 10:26am

Lucie could have had a broadway career without winning a Tony. She's spent the last 20+ years concentrating on her family and that's very admirable.

[Buscee]

Posted: 8/30/06 at 12:02pm

Lucie didnt need to win the Tony to have had a career, she did indeed stay home to raise a family, and tour the country with her husband in shows like Whose Life Is It Anyway?, Social Security, and They're Playing Our Song. In fact Lucie said recently that there was so much hype that she didnt get nominated that people thought she won. Someone she said even took a full page ad out in Variety complaining about that oversight. She said that award enough. I also remember that the papers said that even though she was snubbed she still insisted on being part of the ceremony, and insisted that she and Klein perform the title song "Live" and not tracked in like the other numbers. You can see Angela Lansbury lipsynching to Worst Pies in London. I really dont know y she got snubbed and Tovah Feldshuh got nominated in a show that was a bomb that couldnt even open. But its good to see Lucie is back again. (Is she back in DRS yet?) and she was brilliant in LOST IN YONKERS

[ILUVTOMG]

Posted: 8/30/06 at 2:08pm

I believe Lucie is returning to DRS tomorrow (Thurs) night. I hope she decides to come back to bway again very soon. Can anyone else see her as Phyllis in the Encores revival of Follies? or is that just wishful thinking on my part?