1964 Tony awards- Page 2
1964 Tony awards
re: 1964 Tony awards#25
Posted: 7/20/09 at 1:48pm
I am sure the voters felt "hey, Carol has been around 15 years and this is her peak so let's give her the award. We'll give it to Barbra next time." Well there was no next time for her.
Poor thing. I wonder whatever happened to her.
re: 1964 Tony awards#26
Posted: 7/20/09 at 3:41pmNot that I was alive then... but Mary Martin opened the London production.
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/5/09
re: 1964 Tony awards#27
Posted: 7/22/09 at 9:01pm
"Jennie" was not really Mary Martin's only bona fide failure. She also appeared in "Do You Turn Somersaults?," which ran two weeks. She also appeared in a musical that closed out of town, "Dancing in the Streets." Then there was Noel Coward's "Pacific 1860," which was a failure in London.
As for Streisand and the film of "Hello, Dolly!," yes this film had many flaws, the greatest of them being Streisand herself. She was terribly miscast, and in my opinion, terrible in it. I don't like the way she sings "Before the Parade Passes By." And I prefer "I Put My Hand In," to "Just Leave Everything to Me."
re: 1964 Tony awards#28
Posted: 7/22/09 at 9:08pm
"I don't like the way she sings Before the Parade Passes By. And I prefer I Put My Hand In, to Just Leave Everything to Me."
Wow, I completely disagree with every syllable in that statement. Her take on Before The Parade Passes By is brilliant, and Just Leave Everything To Me exceeds I Put My Hand In in every respect.
As for Streisand, she was too young for the role, but the real problem was Matthau, and their total lack of chemistry.
re: 1964 Tony awards#29
Posted: 9/11/09 at 12:48am
There may be another reason why Channing won over Streisand in FUNNY GIRL. Channing was from the same school as Merman, Martin and other stars who always gave 200% on stage.
Streisand quickly became bored with FUNNY GIRL and gave unenthusiastic or wildly erratic performances, frequently racing through her lines as if trying to get the show over with. There were a number of reports about this at the time as documented in the book Broadway's Greatest Musicals.
The simple truth is Barbra Streisand never wanted to be a Broadway star. Her eye was on the movies, and FUNNY GIRL enabled her to make that leap.
Cast albums are NOT "soundtracks."
Live theatre does not use a "soundtrack." If it did, it wouldn't be live theatre!
I host a weekly one-hour radio program featuring cast album selections as well as songs by cabaret, jazz and theatre artists. The program, FRONT ROW CENTRE is heard Sundays 9 to 10 am and also Saturdays from 8 to 9 am (eastern times) on www.proudfm.com
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re: 1964 Tony awards#30
Posted: 9/11/09 at 1:21pmI don't think Martin was ever offered the original Broadway role; there is a story of how Gower Champion came to their farm and offered her the national touring role, however, which she accepted, and then of course opened it in London.
re: 1964 Tony awards#31
Posted: 9/11/09 at 2:22pm^It's pretty well documented that Martin was offered it.
re: 1964 Tony awards#32
Posted: 9/11/09 at 2:30pmI'm sure you're right, although I've not been able to find that. In 'Mary Martin, Broadway Legend', by Ronald Davis, it talks of her being offered the lead in "Funny Girl" and turning it down, but only being offered the tour in "Hello, Dolly".
re: 1964 Tony awards#33
Posted: 9/11/09 at 2:59pm
Great thread!
Although I was only two at the time, my parents were both around and involved in the NY theatre scene back then. They pretty much said everything that's been said here:
Hello, Dolly! was a smash, mega-musical. Funny Girl was a star-turn hit for Streisand. And she was very erratic in the role. Sometimes great, sometimes phoning it in or rushing through it.
Dolly was the clear winner all around that year.
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Joined: 12/31/69
re: 1964 Tony awards#34
Posted: 9/11/09 at 9:31pmPeople are right to bring up Gower Champion's staging--it was HIM who got the best reviews. Funny Girl's production was plagued with problems (it's funny how many people were asked or very briefly connected to it in some capacity--including SOndheim and Fosse) and although Jerome Robbins came to the production which he was originally meant to stage late in the run to fix things, it's too bad he couldn't have done it start to finish. Still, I often get the feeling originally producers were almost hoping it would be a spiritual sequel to Gypsy. (Backstage musicals about "true stories", Styne score, Sondheim asked to do the lyric, a star female turn, Robbins connected, etc... )
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