Alice Playten in Henry Sweet Henry (1967)

[bigbelterbaby]

Posted: 4/18/12 at 6:50am

So great!! Her two big numbers are amazing. She was nominated for a Tony for it in 1968. She was only 20! If you haven't heard take a listen....

*Nobody Steps on Kafrtiz (OBCR)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyAnq8HdWYQ

*Poor Little Person (live)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lyv67Peo4w

Updated On: 4/18/12 at 06:50 AM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/18/12 at 7:32am

Here's the portion of the Michael Bennett tribute in which Alice discusses the show:

http://youtu.be/i6YqWziXM2E

[allofmylife]

Posted: 4/18/12 at 7:34am

"Henry Sweet Henry" was supposed to make another young girl a star, but fifth-billed (or worse) Playten stole the whole show and never gave it back. She got rave reviews, Ed Sullivan drooled over her and the other young lady was never heard of again; (not that Playten became a big star either).

Oh and of course, Pia Zadora is adorably scene stealing right behind the show-stealer.

Updated On: 4/18/12 at 07:34 AM

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 4/18/12 at 7:42am

I love Alice Playten in HENRY SWEET HENRY. I've seen those clips hundreds of times and they are great but the clip I am most interested in seeing is Michael Bennett's staging of the Act II hippie ballet "Weary Near to Dyin'". It's such a weird song to begin with.

Was HENRY SWEET HENRY the first Broadway musical to depict hippies? I don't recall them in the original version of the story THE WORLD OF HENRY ORIENT.

[After Eight]

Posted: 4/18/12 at 8:21am

^

There may have been hippie types in Sweet Charity's "Rhythm of Life."

There were certainly beatniks in previous musicals: The Nervous Set, The Billy Barnes Revue, Show Girl.

As for "Weary Near to Dyin','" it came across as a real dud on stage. (Likewise on the album.)

[bigbelterbaby]

Posted: 4/18/12 at 9:02am

is Pia the one in Blue?

[newintown]

Posted: 4/18/12 at 9:20am

It demonstrates how a creative team can shoot themselves in the foot without realizing it - giving two of the best numbers in the show to a character who has absolutely nothing to do with the central (or secondary) story.

It would have been a good idea (if they had the time) to completely overhaul the show to be about Kafritz, rather than Val, once they saw where their dynamo was.

Of course, it wouldn't have been a musical based on The World of Henry Orient, but it may have been more successful.

[WOSQ]

Posted: 4/18/12 at 9:49am

A story Alice Playten told on a talk show in about 1968:

Background: in the first few years of the Tonys, producer Alex Cohen decided that there would be no comps andf that everyone would have a paid ticket. This was all well and good since the shows always in the forefront would buy the tickets for their nominees.

Alice Playten's show, Henry, Sweet Henry, was long closed so she bought her own ticket. However all she could afford was the cheapest ticket in the balcony of the Shubert where the awards were handed out that year.

She said that if she had won (and there was a possibility she could have), she would have had to stand up, yell out, "I'll be right down!" and then tear down the two flights of stairs and up the aisle to the stage.

The practice of giving nominees comps came into being the following year.

[bigbelterbaby]

Posted: 4/18/12 at 10:25am

awh she should have won! that's bs she had to buy her own ticket. glad she got that changed.

@CarlosAlberto I'm totally obsessed with the Poor Little Person clip. I could watch it over and over.

I'm not that familiar with the whole storyline but I'm surprised Alice wasn't more of a star, especially since she started so young and had a great booming voice. I guess they called her a lil Ethel Merman back then.

If I didn't know better I would have thought she was Catherine Burns, who got a Oscar nom in 69' a year after Alice did in 68'. They look very similar.

Catherine Burns Oscar nommed role in 'Last Summer'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ag4ZiuQQJ7I

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 4/18/12 at 11:47am

Beautiful Soup is doing it next spring at the end of our season here in NYC! Stay tuned, gang.

[Gypsy9]

Posted: 4/19/12 at 8:31am

Alice Playten was called by someone a "Li'l Merman". Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think I saw her as Baby June in the original Broadway cast of GYPSY in 1959. If so, she certainly had the model for her stentorian voice on stage with her.

I loved the movie THE WORLD OF HENRY ORIENT and would like to have seen HENRY, SWEET HENRY. Playten sure can belt.

[Smaxie]

Posted: 4/19/12 at 8:37am

According to IBDB.com, she was a replacement Baby Louise.
Alice Playten on IBDB

[Gypsy9]

Posted: 4/19/12 at 8:44am

Thanks for the correction, Smaxie. At least I had the right show.

[Owen22]

Posted: 4/19/12 at 9:46am

Why hasn't this show been Encored...? It seems like the exact type of show it was established for...

[dry2olives]

Posted: 4/19/12 at 10:30am

William Goldman explained in his book The Season that while audiences were enjoying Alice Playten's performance during out of town tryouts, it wasn't until they came to New York for a week and a half of previews that audiences began enthusiastically responding to the character's campiness and she started stealing the show.

[gravity87]

Posted: 4/19/12 at 10:50am

I'm pretty sure it was the times who called her a "Toy Merman" in the review of the show. I have been obsessed with both of these songs for years. So great! At one point her memorial was up on youtube which featured some terrific anecdotes and clips from her career.