Queen of the Stardust Ballroom

[Kristie-K2]

Posted: 2/13/05 at 10:01pm

OMG, I just bought the movie at a thrift store for 50 cents....Maureen Stapleton is fabulous......She is not a singer but her voice works for this movie.....Cried like a baby at the end.....Now, I know that this movie was made into a Broadway show...Did anyone see it?...How was it?......I am sure the producers hire every retired dancer to dance in this show>>>

[Glebb]

Posted: 2/13/05 at 10:02pm

Saw it. Dorothy Loudon's opening song was fab.
One of the teachers from the Joffrey School danced in it.

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 2/13/05 at 10:03pm

Is this the prequal to the Ozdust Ballroom?

[Mary_Ethel]

Posted: 2/13/05 at 10:31pm

I never saw "Ballroom"; but I really enjoy the OBC. Dorothy Loudon's climatic "Ten Percent" is riveting. Unfortunately, "Ballroom" died very quickly on Broadway. (Perhaps because it was Michael Bennett's first show since "A Chorus Line" and "Ballroom" was such a different type of show.)

[Kristie-K2]

Posted: 2/13/05 at 10:47pm

Well the movie was made in the 70's.....and was about "old people"....I don't think they would make this kind of movie now......So sad that Ballroom had a short run....

[wildcat]

Posted: 2/14/05 at 11:26am

Try to find Ken Mandelbaum's book A CHORUS LINE & THE MUSICALS OF MICHAEL BENNETT. It has some wonderful dish about the creation of "Ballroom" and its subsequent run. (Beverley Sills was a contender to play Bea!) And yes indeed, there were some fabulous 'old pros' in the cast. If lyricists Marilyn & Alan Bergman have any say in the matter, we haven't seen the last of "Ballroom".

But the original movie certainly still stands up on its own. I look forward to seeing it again myself.

[Jimmcf]

Posted: 2/14/05 at 11:45am

Isn't the song "Fifty Percent?"

Dorothy Louden singing it was the highlight of "My Favorite Broadway: The Leading Ladies."

[Kristie-K2]

Posted: 2/14/05 at 11:50am

They really need to bring this musical back....It would employ older dancers......Someone like Chita Rivera could star.......Who else could play the lead?

[wildcat]

Posted: 2/14/05 at 12:00pm

Bea really shouldn't be a dancer because her trepidation at entering the Ballroom is very important at the beginning of the show. We see her blossom as she discovers the joy of dance and the excitement of rejoining the human race after the death of her husband. A singing actress in her fifties would be more appropriate.

[WISHIHADATONY]

Posted: 2/14/05 at 1:44pm

I love Maureen Stapleton soooo very much..............was thrilled when I got to meet her and interview her in my high school days when she was doing THE COUNTRY GIRL with Jason Robards and George Grizzard.

There was a Broadway musical, BALLROOM, done by Michael Bennett which starred Dorothy Loudon. The show's best known song is "Fifty Percent of Him," I believe is the title. The show did not run long, was not successful.

I believe the musical is being reworked somewhere now, with the title of the tv film QUEEN OF THE STARDUST BALLROOM, the title of the newly revised musical.

[cturtle]

Posted: 2/15/05 at 5:39am

i saw it when it premiered on tv oh-so-many years ago. i remember being quite touched by it.

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 2/15/05 at 2:20pm

The song is called "Fifty Percent". BALLROOM was one of my first Broadway shows, and I absolutely loved it. I still listen to the cast album all the time. The original movie is also brilliant, with a lovely and heartbreaking performance by Ms. Stapleton.