CHICAGO's "missing character", or, WHO is Henry Glassman?

Pardon me if this has been discussed before, but I was just looking online at the Playbill for the ORIGINAL "Chicago" at the 46th St, and noticed that an actor named David Rounds is listed on the title page along with Barney Martin ("Amos"), Mary McCarty ("Mrs Morton") and M.O'Haughey ("Mary Sunshine"). Looking inside I see that Mr Rounds played the role of "Henry Glassman" (understudied by Christopher Chadman).

David Rounds isn't listed on the sleeve of the OBCR, and the character doesn't appear on the IBDB listing for the first production of Chicago, and normally IBDB is fairly scrupulous about listing cut/deleted characters in the "replacement and/or transfer info" sections. Furthermore David Rounds is listed elsewhere on IBDB and has quite a few credits but no mention of Chicago, and again this is information IBDB would usually show.

Just intrigued and wondering if anybody on here knows who Henry Glassman was, and if anybody ever saw him in any version of CHICAGO?

David Rounds played Velma's sleazy theatrical agent and had a terrific song, "Ten Percent." By all accounts he was doing a great job but the show was running nearly three hours long and the creatives decided that cutting his entire character and story arc was the simplest way to cut a substantial amount of time from the show. Ten Percent can be heard on one of the Lost in Boston albums.

Updated On: 8/27/14 at 02:19 PM

I thought thats what it might be I remembered somthing about an agent. It talks about it a bit on the 10th anniversary revival CD/DVD. I seem to remeber that they were either going to cut the agent or Mamma. The chose to keep the later and that is why we now have the Chicago that we know and love.

I own a copy of the composer's demo of the score, and No serves pretty much the same function that Roxie (the song) did in the final version. Also on that version is "Ten Percent" "Rose Colored Glasses" a different version of "We Both Reached for the Gun" "Pansy Eyes" "I Know a Girl" "It" and "Loopin' the Loop". "Loopin' the Loop" and "Ten Percent" are both amazing songs and are better than some in the final show (LTL can be heard a bit in the entr'acte) and the other numbers are all very good, but I can see why they were cut.

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Updated On: 8/27/14 at 03:02 PM

I thought the narrator was still present in the original Broadway version? Wasn't it not until the revival that it was given to members of the chorus?

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Yes, the original Broadway version had a Master of Ceremonies character who introduced the songs, and did a little monologue between Nowadays and Hot Honey Rag.

If you listen to Loopin' the Loop, it is the same melody as the wonderful overture to the show, which was included in part in movie, but despite the fact that the Hot Honey Rag sounds kind of similar, it is not the same song. The original song can be listened to on the website that must not be named if you just search the original title of the song.

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There's a nice version of "Ten Percent" (performed by Kander and Ebb themselves)included on the 10th Anniversary release of the revival recording.

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On a side note, his obituary became somewhat famous because it was the first time the New York Times listed a "surviving same sex partner".

Thank you darquegk!

I was referring to the bumper music newintown.

I actually love the soundtrack. The arrangements are really great.

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