I saw Grimes when she returned to the role sometime in the 1973, at the Shady Grove Music Fair, MD, part of the Westbury circuit well known to most on this board. Howard Keel was her Johnny, and a lot of the OBC reunited with her (Edith Meiser, Mitchell Gregg). It was in the round, and she was obviously a decade plus older than when she created the role (though at 39/40 younger than Malone -- it must stated: 40 in 1973 was not 40 today, not for a women in the entertainment industry. Perhaps enough said.) Friends with me noted the deteriorating timber or texture of her voice, and attributed it to cigarettes (heavy smoker, Grimes, always). I couldn't hear that, just that eccentric quality that was uniquely hers. She barked a lot of it, scooping into notes, always very musically. If you like her singing, well, even when the voice is rusty it's still a delight. I heard the same Molly I grew up hearing on the OBC album. She wore a wig that looked like Streisand's in the "Dolly" film, once she acquired wealth, and it seemed enormous. She was a bit heavier, and danced very little. But she had this strange gravitas. She didn't waste a movement, not a gesture. I remember thinking: "That's a character actor." She approached the role like a character part, but never resorted to the sort of dialect Reynolds used. She had zero in common with this woman Molly Tobin, but used the Grimes persona in service of building someone entirely of her own making. Speaking of Dolly, I bet she would've made a wonderful one. The show, as noted above, just seemed to jump from scene to scene, the Willson score mostly there (I can't find my program). That second act still a mess, unfocused and -- sorry -- water treading until she can be reunited with Johnny.
"I'm a comedian, but in my spare time, things bother me." Garry Shandling
Updated On: 7/23/17 at 04:48 PM
