1994's "Sally Marr" - what happened to the revival ?

[David10086]

Posted: 7/26/22 at 12:23pm

In the Joan Rivers interview I had watched from 2013, she mentioned a 'Sally Marr...and Her Escorts' Broadway revival was 'in the works' (she was looking at the 2014-15 season). Unlike the original 1994 production (which she co-wrote and starred in for a brief run - and got a 'Best Actress' Tony nod for her work), she wouldn't be starring, but would be producing.  She was in the process of looking for a smaller Broadway theater than what she had in 1994, and wanted a name actress in the role of 'Sally Marr'. She mentioned she spoke to her friend Bette Midler (who was starring as  Sue Mengers in "I'll Eat You Last", but  Midler was negotiating for a 'Hello Dolly' revival (this was four years before it was announced !). Rivers acknowledged Midler would be fantastic as 'Dolly' (too bad she never lived to see it). Rivers also mentioned she had talked to her friend Streisand about grabbing the movie rights and producing / directing, but Streisand was focused on another project at the time (must've been the ill-fated "Gypsy", so she gave up on the movie project and was pushing for the Broadway revival. 

 

So does anyone know what happened to this revival after Rivers' passing ?  I'm assuming her daughter Melissa was passed along the rights to the show and it's revival. Does anyone know if she (or anyone else) moved on from where her mother left off in getting this on stage ? 

 

Also - did anyone see the original brief run (I believe it was for eight weeks) in the spring of 1994 ? Was it any good ?  I've read up on some reviews - they were mixed from what I could tell. 

 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 7/26/22 at 12:48pm

I cannot imagine anyone was dying to produce or star in this show, unless there was a Bette-level star interested. With all respect to Joan, she talked about a lot of things in her lifetime that never happened –– and definitely will never happen now.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 7/26/22 at 12:53pm

 

[David10086]

Posted: 7/26/22 at 5:22pm

Did anyone ever see this when it was on Broadway in 1994 ?  If so, what did you think of this ? 

[tomwsjr]

Posted: 7/28/22 at 6:54am

Joan was excellent, but the show itself wasn’t very good.  I distinctly remember while walking out of the theatre my friend saying “what a waist of time that was” and the person next to us said “a waist of time and money”.   

[BroadwayNYC2]

Posted: 7/28/22 at 9:14am

“ She was in the process of looking for a smaller Broadway theater than what she had in 1994”

 

the original production played the Hayes (the smallest Broadway theatre) so. 

[JBradshaw]

Posted: 7/28/22 at 9:48am

I thought the same, how much smaller can ya get.  
 

those clips seemed interesting. 

[David10086]

Posted: 7/28/22 at 11:00pm

tomwsjr said: "Joan was excellent, but the show itself wasn’t very good. I distinctly remember while walking out of the theatre my friend saying “what a waist of time that was” and the person next to us said “a waist of time and money”. "

Oh wow. That’s not good.