Anita Morris - "A Call From The Vatican."

[ljay889]

Posted: 3/29/07 at 9:17pm

I never hear enough talk about NINE.

But isn't Anita's CALL FROM THE VATICAN simply amazing? It's one of the best performances from any cast recording. Her sexuality, attitude, and vocals are simply SENSATIONAL.

She will forever own this song. Krakowski was good, but her version fails in comparison to Morris.

Anita sang her butt off with this song, and I don't think Krakowski had the chops to nail it like Morris.

I can only imagine how incredible it was seeing Anita perform this live, especially in that costume!

Anybody else addicted to A CALL FROM THE VATICAN by Anita Morris?

[C is for Company]

Posted: 3/29/07 at 9:19pm

No, but I am addicted to SIMPLE. I love that, Nine, Only With You, Unusual Way, Overture Delle Donne, and Not Since Chaplin. I recently got into this score after being recommended by one of my professors and I really adore it. It is just absolutely gorgeous and gives new meaning to hauntingly beautiful.

edit; I forgot to include one of my favorite pictures

Updated On: 3/29/07 at 09:19 PM

[Unknown User]

Posted: 3/29/07 at 9:24pm

Anita Morris is one of the all-time greats & there should be a moment reserved every day to remember & revere her.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 3/29/07 at 9:26pm

Thanks for this thread, LJay! You always prove to have such good taste.
I am just ADDICTED to Ms.Morris' "A Call from the Vatican." I read an interview with Tommy Tune in which he said Morris was not only his first choice, but he trusted her so much (after having worked with her in THE BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE IN TEXAS) that he just let her choreograph the number herself. She was supposed to perform the number at the Tonys but her costume was too revealing (though "Be Italian" was a great choice).
Everyone I know who saw the original production of NINE says that this was one of the best performances they have seen. I certainly wish I could've seen her do the number live but she sounds great in the cast recording.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 3/29/07 at 9:26pm

I detest NINE (the show itself), but the music has certainly grown on me through the years....I realized the virtues in the choral score - nothing like a choir of 16 women in the High C's (if they actually go THAT high).

[Smaxie]

Posted: 3/29/07 at 9:27pm

Hearing Anita Morris sing it was nothing compared to SEEING her sing it. She basically contorted herself into all sorts of impossible positions.

[C is for Company]

Posted: 3/29/07 at 9:28pm

Apparently so Ray. Prior to the recommendation of listening to Nine, I was asked if I'd listened to Anita Morris in it. He basically told me you just have to to hear her. In a word, she NAILS that song, I am just not too fond of repeatedly listening to it. However, her vocals are undeniably killer.

[morosco]

Posted: 3/29/07 at 9:53pm

Her "Call From The Vatican" was one of the most astonishing performances I've ever seen on stage. She was brilliant. Absolutley loved the original production.

[GoSmileLaughCryClap]

Posted: 3/29/07 at 9:53pm

I saw it a couple of times and I can say that more important than the wildly contrived - in the best sense of the word - physical demands of A Call From the Vatican, was the finesse and delicacy she brought to her vocals. When she sang Simple, quite simply, there was no contradiction to her other work in the show.

She had it.


Updated On: 3/29/07 at 09:53 PM

[wickedfan]

Posted: 3/29/07 at 9:53pm

Go on the forbidden site and search Anita Morris. There's a great clip of her singing on a tv show in '81. She's wearing an outfit very similar to what she wore in Nine. She suffers a wardrobe malfunction but handles it gracefully. Check it out. The high note she belts in the end is surreal.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 3/29/07 at 10:01pm

I have seen that clip, she was so incredibly sexy. I wish I had been able to see her in THE MAGIC SHOW, THE BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE, and even in the chorus of SEESAW.

[morosco]

Posted: 3/29/07 at 10:01pm

She would have made a wonderful Roxie.

[ljay889]

Posted: 3/29/07 at 10:03pm

She definitely had some Gwen Verdon qualities.

[Jon]

Posted: 3/29/07 at 10:05pm

That video was posted by hubby Grover Dale.

[jimnysf]

Posted: 3/30/07 at 12:34am

Anita Morris is one of the all-time greats & there should be a moment reserved every day to remember & revere her.

Amen to that! I was lucky enough to see her in "Nine" and several times as Miss Mona in "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas". She was wonderful. She was also great in the Bette Midler film, "Ruthless People".

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 3/30/07 at 1:18am

Love her and saw her in many a show.
Did having a "gay 'hubby'"
Add or detract to her career?

[LostLeander]

Posted: 3/30/07 at 1:40am

Her vocals on the OBC of Nine are perfection.

The woman's voice was GOLDEN! One of the best performers to straddle both soprano and belt so extremely well.

I wish she were still around. Simple is underrated but just as amazing in a completely different way than Vatican..

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 3/30/07 at 1:49am

"Simple" is such a great song too, and gotta love Shelley Burch's dialogue intertwined with Morris' beautiful understated vocals.

[C is for Company]

Posted: 3/30/07 at 2:00am

Makes for a nice tender moment that kind of makes me sad listening to it.

Ciao...

[WOSQ]

Posted: 3/30/07 at 10:17am

The "cancellation" of Anita's song on the Tonys was publicity making at its best. The story was made up by the Press Agent for Nine and by Alex Cohen, producer of the Tony telecast. Anita wasn't going to be doing the number anyway, but the creation of the "censorship" got the news item out nationwide, and it was good free publicity for the the telecast and good for Nine.

There was another story at the time that she wore out her costumes from the inside out because of all her suggestive writhing, and I have no idea if that was real or a fabrication as well. Still its a great bit of flackery.

Anita also created a role that few saw--Stella Starf*ckoff which was the second female lead in "Rachael Lily Rosenbloom and Don't You Ever Forget It!" Seven previews, no opening. Grover was called into doctor the show, but he could do very little.

She and Grover, Tony Perkins' longtime bf, were married about the same time that Tony married Berry Berensen. I heard they lived in adjacent brownstones in Chelsea.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 3/30/07 at 11:15am

I thought she was married to Buck Henry. Huh.

She was also wonderful in Julian Temple's contribution to the film ARIA.

[WestVillage]

Posted: 3/30/07 at 11:25am

Anita was one of the sexiest women to ever grace a Broadway stage. A CALL FROM THE VATICAN will go down in Broadway history ... the costume, the contortions, the voice. She was also wonderful in Magic Show. She was sadly taken from this earth way too soon.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 3/30/07 at 1:52pm

I miss Anita Morris. Besides the voice, she was so much fun to watch on screen...remember the Rolling Stones "She Was Hot" video?

Thanks for reminding us of how terrific she was.