A Chorus Line and the 1976 Tony Awards- Page 3

[MTVMANN]

Posted: 7/23/09 at 2:47pm

Well when I was in HS there were rumors that he used to be a woman...along with that Miss Cleo lady!

[PalJoey]

Posted: 7/23/09 at 2:58pm

The maybe he should play Mary Sunshine.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 7/26/09 at 3:48am

"But wait.... Mary has a tiny secret she's going to come out here and reveal to the studio audience..."

[ggersten]

Posted: 7/26/09 at 1:51pm

What qualifies as stunt casting? Did David Merrick stunt cast Hello Dolly? Betty Grable? Phyllis Diller? Martha Raye? Ginger Rogers?

Or a year where Lauren Bacall and Katherine Hepburn are both in musicals? And while I think Raquel Welch doesn't get enough credit, she's been a replacement. (Hmm, is she too "old" for Chicago? I can see her in the Cell Block Tango as Velma.)

[PalJoey]

Posted: 7/26/09 at 4:13pm

Katharine Hepburn spelled her first name "Katharine" not "Katherine."

[sondheimboy2]

Posted: 7/26/09 at 10:35pm

Three pages of postings and NO ONE has mentioned what was the fourth show nominated that year, BUBBLING BROWN SUGAR. (Which basically the way it was back when it was nominated back in '76.)

If you want to see how CHICAGO was received, get a copy of Stephen Suskin's MORE OPENING NIGHTS ON BROADWAY. While the show didn't get panned, no one loved it. The words "cold" and "heartless" and "joyless" get used a lot. The only song from the entire score that got mentioned in the reviews was "Mr. Celophane" because Amos was (they felt) the only sympathetic character in the show.

As for Donna getting nominated for what was basically a supporting role (and the fact that she was nominated for what was basically a featured role is supposedly the reason why it was a Billy Flynn number that was featured on the Tony's show that year and not one with Gwen and Chita, legend has it that they refused to do so because Donna was nominated in their category), I would say that the committee was making amends for all of the lead performers in shows who were only eligible for featured category because of the way their shows were billed. (Tammy Grimes and Tom Bosley and Yul Brynner won featured performer Tonys because their names were not above the title of their shows.) Only a few years earlier, William Daniels refused his featured performer nomination in 1776 because he felt that his was the leading role.

As for Carole winning over Pricilla, I think that it is quite possibly the ONLY time that the person with the show stopper didn't win the award.

About the sets and costumes, one of the books about A CHORUS LINE says about it's not winning in those categories that "they were won by flashier musical which has long since closed..." Which makes PACIFIC OVERTURES sound like it's LEGS DIAMOND! I'm sorry a white piece of tape and dance togs can not compete with what Boris Aronson and Florence Klotz came up with.

I remember watching the Tony Awards that year and I wasn't even fourteen yet. It was such a CHORUS LINE celebration that I remember being surprised when they did the number from PACIFIC OVERTURES. I remember thinking why are they bothering since CHORUS LINE has already won everything...

[jv92]

Posted: 7/27/09 at 3:53pm

"and the fact that she was nominated for what was basically a featured role is supposedly the reason why it was a Billy Flynn number that was featured on the Tony's show that year and not one with Gwen and Chita, legend has it that they refused to do so because Donna was nominated in their category"

That sounds a little sketchy. Gwen mentored Donna in her How to Succeed... days and Donna idolized her. They maintained a friendship throughought Gwen's lifetime. And Chita was a big fan of Chorus Line and applauded it enthusiastically at the Actor's Fund benefit performance. But again, I could be wrong.

[bschneid76]

Posted: 7/27/09 at 10:19pm

Thank you Sondheimboy for mentioning "Bubbling Brown Sugar" I love that OCR. Vivian Reed was excellent in the bits I've seen of her singing "Sweet Georgia Brown". I prefer Chicago to A Chorus Line as I didn't get into the music as much. I think Pacific Overture has some of the dullest music ever, I can't even watch the Tony Performance on Broadway Lost Treasures. But what a year for Best Musical Nominations, 4 widely different shows.

[BroadwayBound062]

Posted: 7/28/09 at 2:03pm

I love Sondheim but I can't get through Pacific Overtures at all. I don't know what it is about it but I just can't. But when I listen to ACL, I find the score exciting and fresh everytime. I think it was such a new type of show on Broadway compared to Chicago that it had to win the Tony. I think it deserved ever bit of the recognition it received.

Posted: 11/14/09 at 7:02am

"Thank you Sondheimboy for mentioning "Bubbling Brown Sugar" I love that OCR. Vivian Reed was excellent in the bits I've seen of her singing "Sweet Georgia Brown". I prefer Chicago to A Chorus Line as I didn't get into the music as much. I think Pacific Overture has some of the dullest music ever, I can't even watch the Tony Performance on Broadway Lost Treasures. But what a year for Best Musical Nominations, 4 widely different shows. "

Funny my copies of Broadway Lost Treasures doesn't have a Pacific Overtures number...

What did they perform anyway?

I honestly feel it's his most beautiful score (not necesarily my fave but...) but I have to admit I probably sat with it lonegr than any of his other shows (excepting maybe Bounce/Road Show) before it really connected with me--seeing the DVD of the filmed for Japan production helped (and yes the physical production was breathtaking)

[PalJoey]

Posted: 11/14/09 at 9:07am

Someone in a Tree

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cx6hhy2Dwzw

Posted: 11/14/09 at 9:13am

Thanks PJ! good to know Prince/Sondheim finally got a big staged Tonys number after nothing for their first three shows (well nothing much) I always assumed that clip was from the filmed for Japan video.

[peerrjb]

Posted: 11/14/09 at 8:47pm

Actually, on the Tony show itself, the cast did a cut-down version of the opening, "The Advantages of Floating in the Middle of the Sea". It was the first number of the evening, as I recall. I hadn't seen "PO" yet, and my first encounter with "Someone in a Tree" was when I finally saw the show. (I don't know where the youtube "Tree" came from, but you should figure to know it wasn't on the Tony's because it's over seven minutes long.)

Posted: 11/14/09 at 9:28pm

I'm pretty certain it's from the filmed for Japan telecast.

But didn't Chorus Line's opening open the show?

[Gobstopper]

Posted: 11/14/09 at 9:46pm

Somebody brought this up earlier, but there really isn't anybody to pull for in Chicago, which is stilly somewhat atypical for a musical. Other than Amos, they are some spectacularly unsympathetic characters. They're complicated and they're motivations make sense, but I think that lack of warmth turned audiences off in '76. I think the American audience now is a lot more willing to accept anti-heroes than they were then.

It hardly matters now. Both A Chorus Line and Chicago will, of course, always be remembered as classics regardless of which has more Tonys or which one runs longer.

Posted: 11/14/09 at 10:43pm

I also think the revival staging goes a long way to make the characters more sympathetic in a weird way than Fosse's more confrontational original--if that makes sense. Having them do it in simple costumes as kinda a cabaret act for the audience makes it easier to connect.

I would love to see how Fosse's original staging (with the full sets/costumes and the full libretto not the edited one we have now) would go over now--some fans of Marshall's film (which I liked a lot--but didn't love) claimed he returned to Fosse's original concept and in some ways he did, but he still softened it a lot. I'd love to see how the original would play now.