The Utterly Strange But Entirely True Bizarre Connection Game

[Mary_Ethel]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 5:18pm

Julie Andrews:


1. Was Cinderella in the FIRST R&H Production on TV, while the SECOND performer to play R&H's Cinderella on TV was...

2. ...Lesley Ann Warren, who was in the original Broadway Cast of the Musical 110 IN THE SHADE, which starred...

3. ...Inga Swenson, who was in the original Broadway Cast of CAMELOT, where she was the standby for:


Julie Andrews.


Who wants to play next?

[Craig]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 5:19pm

Not to mention leslie ann warren and julie andrews were both in Victor Victoria together (the movie)

[Mary_Ethel]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 5:21pm

FORGOT all about that, Craig!

THANKS for the info!

[TxTwoStep]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 5:27pm

Too bad poor Inga is known best as the housekeeper on BENSON. How about this:

Baayork Lee didn't want to be in the "dancer's workshop therapy sessions" which started A CHORUS LINE, but ended up included, along with her history of performing in tours of FLOWER DRUM SONG and KING & I (Connie is based on Baayork, of course). Now she's the keeper of the ACL legend, and also directed the latest tour of KING & I. She's also connected to the example which started this thread...who knows how?

Speaking of FLOWER DRUM, which performer has strange but truly bizarre connections to that piece as well as PACIFIC OVERTURES?

[magruder]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 5:34pm

Alvin Ing? He was a Ta on the road for the original Flower Drum Song and was in the revival as Chin. He was also in both the original Pacific Overtures and the revival as the Shogun's Mother (in addition to other roles).

[~FloweryFriend~]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 5:40pm

I posted this in May, but I'll break it out again for this thread...

• Joel Grey has been on Broadway several times, including in "Chicago", "Wicked", and as the Emcee in "Cabaret".
  
• Joel Grey also played Amos BabCock Bellamy in the movie version of "The Fantasticks"
  
• Joel Grey's daughter is Jennifer Grey.
  
• Jennifer Grey was in the movie "Dirty Dancing".
  
• Jennifer Grey's character, Baby, was legally named Frances, after the first woman in the cabinet, Frances Perkins.
  
• Frances Perkins is a character in FDR's cabinet in the musical "Annie".
  
• Jennifer Grey was once engaged to Matthew Broderick, star of "The Producers".
  
• Matthew Broderick is married to Sarah Jessica Parker.
  
• Sarah Jessica Parker's Broadway resume includes "Once Upon a Mattress" and "Annie" (connecting us back to Francis Perkins)
  
• Jennifer Grey's father in the movie, Jerry Orbach, originated the roles of El Gallo in "The Fantasticks" (connecting us back to Joel Grey) and Julian Marsh in "42nd Street", and was nominated for a Tony for his performance in "Guys & Dolls", and another for playing Billy Flynn in "Chicago".
  
• Patrick Swayze, who was also in "Dirty Dancing", played the role of Billy Flynn on Broadway last year.
  
• Jerry Orbach also voiced Lumiere in the movie of "Beauty and the Beast", which is now a long-running Broadway production.
  
• The mother in "Dirty Dancing" was played by Kelly Bishop, who won a Best Featured Actress Tony for her performance as Sheila in "A Chorus Line" before playing Emily Gilmore on "Gilmore Girls".
  
• Lonny Price, who played Neil Kellerman in "Dirty Dancing", went on to co-write, direct, and star in a musical called "A Class Act" based on the life of Edward Kleban, who was the lyricist of "A Chorus Line"
  
• In the movie version of "A Chorus Line", the character of Cassie was played by Alyson Reed.
  
• Alyson Reed went on to earn a Tony nomination for her portrayal of Sally Bowles in the 80s revival of "Cabaret"...

And that brings us back to Joel...

[Mary_Ethel]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 5:51pm

OK, I googled, BUT:

Baayork Lee's connection to my first post is that she choreographed a production of CAMELOT for the Arena Stage in Washington, DC in 2003.


And, FF--that was THE MOST AMAZING Post I've ever seen!

[TxTwoStep]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 5:51pm

very good, Magruder, i can always count on you. Yes, Alvin Ing played in both originals and revivals of FLOWER DRUM and PACIFIC OVERTURES. i think in OVERTURES he may have played two versions of the same character...the "boy in the tree" and also his grown-up self who recalls the experience of spying on Perry. But i could be wrong.

But what is Baayork's connection (tenous, admittedly) to the example that started this thread?

[magruder]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 5:55pm

She starred in the original productions of The King and I and Flower Drum Song, written by Rodgers & Hammerstein, who wrote Cinderella, which starred Julie Andrews?

[shermanslave]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 5:57pm

Flowery, very cool. Loving the avatar!!

[TxTwoStep]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 6:02pm

you're close, Magruder. Her connection to R&H is part of it, but not as a performer.

[~FloweryFriend~]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 6:05pm

~Mary_Ethel~
Thanks.
I have my moments.

[magruder]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 6:06pm

Ah! Just remembered. She directed and choreographed the City Opera production of Cinderella.

[Mary_Ethel]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 6:06pm

Ethel Merman:


1. ... starred in the ORIGINAL production of ANNIE GET YOUR GUN (1946) where she played opposite...

2. ...Ray Middleton, who years later would have a featured role on "Dallas", which also featured...

3. ...Susan Lucci, who stars in "All My Children" which also stars...

4. ...James Mitchell, who had a major role in CARNIVAL, which starred...

5. ...Jerry Orbach, who had a featured role in the 1966 REVIVAL of ANNIE GET YOUR GUN, which starred...


Ethel Merman

Updated On: 1/4/05 at 06:06 PM

[TxTwoStep]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 8:04pm

very good, Magruder...we'd rock at Trivial Pursuit, Cranium, or Password/Pyramid.

i don't recall La Lucci on DALLAS, did i miss something?

[Mary_Ethel]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 8:54pm

... Susan Lucci portrayed Hilarly Taylor on "Dallas" during the 1990-1991 season.

[StickToPriest]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 9:01pm

Damn you. You gave me a helluva a way to procrastinate from homework and I jumped at it.




~~~Mandy Patinkin appeared in Sondheim's SITPWG with...

~~~Bernadette Peters, who appeared in the film Pink Cadillac with...

~~~Clint Eastwood, who directed the film Mystic River, which had in its cast...

~~~Marcia Gay Harden, who appeared in Angels in America with...

~~~Joe Mantello, who directed Assassins with...

~~~Neil Patrick Harris, who appeared in the film Starship Troopers with...

~~~Denise Richards, who had a cameo in Love, Actually which co-starred...

~~~Laura Linney, who appeared in the play Sight Unseen with...

~~~Ben Shenkman, who appeared in HBO's Angels in America which was directed by...

~~~Mike Nichols, who is directing Spamalot starring...

~~~Tim Curry, who appeared in the film Clue also co-starring...

~~~Lesley Ann Warren, who appeared in the film Victor/Victoria with...

~~~Julie Andrews, who is married to...

~~~Blake Edwards, who helped write the in-production film The Pink Panther starring...

~~~Steve Martin, who besdies dating Bernadette Peters for many years, appeared in the movie Dirty Rotten Scoundrel, which was the basis for the musical starring...

~~~Joanna Gleason, who appeared in Sondheim's Into the Woods with Bernadette and...

~~~Chip Zein, who will appear in the upcoming musical Chitty Chityy Bang Bang opposite...

~~~Phillip Bosco, who is currently performing in Twelve Angry Men with ITW's original narrator...

~~~Tom Aldredge, who appeared in Sondheim's Passion with...

~~~Donna Murphy, who appeared in the film Spiderman 2 with...

~~~Alfred Molina, whose part in Fiddler is being taken over by...

~~~Harvey Fierstein, who appeared in Hairspray with music and lyrics by...

~~~Marc Shaiman, who wrote music for the film In & Out which had in it...

~~~Lewis J. Stadlen, who appeared in Sondheim's Forum with...

~~~Nathan Lane, who appeared in the Mike Nichol's directed film The Birdcage with...

~~~Robin Williams, who starred in the film Death to Smoochy which also featured Harvey Fierstein and...

~~~Danny Devito, who appeared in the film Duplex which featured Harvey Fierstein and...

~~~Ben Stiller, who appeared in the film Meet the Fockers with...

~~~Robert De Niro, who starred in Analyze This with...

~~~Billy Crystal who had a small part in The Princess Bride, which co-starred...

~~~Mandy Patinkin.

Updated On: 1/4/05 at 09:01 PM

[GovernorSlaton]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 9:06pm

"very good, Magruder, i can always count on you. Yes, Alvin Ing played in both originals and revivals of FLOWER DRUM and PACIFIC OVERTURES. i think in OVERTURES he may have played two versions of the same character...the "boy in the tree" and also his grown-up self who recalls the experience of spying on Perry. But i could be wrong."

I'm not sure if I completely understand what you're saying, but in the original Pacific Overtures, Ing wasn't in "Someone in a Tree".

Beatiful, Priest.

[Delphine]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 9:08pm

Oh my, Priest. Oh. My.

[StickToPriest]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 9:08pm

Ing did sing part of the gorgoeus duet, 'There is No Other Way' in the original cast, however.

And one of the Admirals. I believe the American Admiral.

Updated On: 1/5/05 at 09:08 PM

[Jon]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 11:32pm

Karen Ziemba played the ingenue lead in a summer stock production of BABES IN ARMS directed by Ginger Rodgers.

Later, in CRAZY FOR YOU, she played a rewritten version of the role in GIRL CRAZY originated by Ginger Rodgers.

When Ginger Rodgers died, "Theatre World" Magazine ran an obituary with sever photos - the last known photo being Ginger Rodgers visiting Karen Ziemba backstage.

Ziemba later played Roxie Hart- a role played on film by Ginger Rodgers.

[NaughtyGaudy]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 11:52pm

what's strange and bizarre? broadway theater is a small business with most of the same people doing the work, in every decade. connections are inevitable.

[shira467]

Posted: 1/5/05 at 12:34am

Sure they're inevitable. But gosh, I love it when you guys do this. It's like 526,00 degrees of separation. Sheesh. Love it!

[Mary_Ethel]

Posted: 1/5/05 at 2:29am

A Short But Sweet One: (It's getting late)


Lucille Ball:


...starred in the film BEST FOOT FORWARD which featured...

...Nancy Walker who on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and "Rhoda" played the mother of...

...'Rhoda' as played by Valerie Harper who was a dancer in the musical...

...WIlDCAT, which starred:


Lucille Ball

[~FloweryFriend~]

Posted: 1/5/05 at 2:39am

(Note that mine always read more like webs than loops... sorry)

• Idina Menzel and Sherie Rene Scott both played the same character in Aida (the one princess... I forget her name) and in RENT (Maureen).
  
• Idina Menzel and Sherie Rene Scott thus both worked with Adam Pascal, who was in both Aida and RENT.
  
• Idina Menzel and Sherie Rene Scott have also both worked with Norbert Leo Butz (Fiyero in Wicked with Menzel, Jamie in Last 5 Years with Scott)
  
• Adam Pascal and Norbert Leo Butz both played the role of Roger in RENT.