Applause Revival Due — Page 2

I used to listen to this cast recording a lot at the time and still love the sound of it. Overture is great. Missed Bacall but saw Baxter and thought she was great. Besides what's been posted here, I don't think it could be revived because we don't have a Bacall or a Baxter or even a Dahl around now that I can think of that could pull it off.

Alive!

Alive!

Alive!

Saw the original Broadway production with Bacall and loved it.

Saw the Westbury Music Fair's production with Eva Gabor and hated it.

Updated On: 7/19/20 at 03:33 PM

I would say there’s just too much wrong with Applause to make it work today. But in the 70s I was ready for a revival already with some of the big stars. I saw the video of the London All About Eve with Gillian Anderson. While it’s a better show than Applause I didn’t love it. Mostly because of Ivo’s direction.

This thread brought back memories of the 70s when I played Duane Fox, the Leroy Reems role at dinner theatre. Having a gay character seemed disturbing to some people at that time. In fact my father walked out after the gay bar scene and I was dancing with a man. The Margo Channing was a dead ringer for Lauren Bacall. However she could not sing, dance or act and for some reason delivered all of her lines to the ceiling. When I had scenes with her I’d look up to see what she was looking at but never found it. She was married with two children but she ran off with the young drummer one night. I don’t know how that turned out. The guy who played Bill used his own tuxedos in the show because he sang with orchestras or something. When we got to the theatre one night someone had stolen his tuxedos and he was livid. In the meantime the actress playing Eve was regularly booed during the curtain call. She was really good at playing a bitch. So this particular night neither of them did the curtain call. The director had given me fourth bow though my character’s is smaller than some of the others. So that night after I bowed there was no one until Margo. But her curtain call is tied to the music when she pops out of the back so I just stood there bowing two extra bows which I’m sure was confusing to everybody.

The guy who was cast as Howard Benedict was equity but this was a non-equity show so he was doing it under a fake name. He got cast at another theatre that was also non-equity but it paid more so he quit our show. This was in the south so there were some southern accents in this production set in New York but the worst of all was the director. He had to take over the role of Benedict and in the scene where he blackmails Eve and she asks what do you want and his reply was “yew until Ah start yawing”. I don’t think I’ll ever get out of my head even though he was murdered some years ago.

Updated On: 7/27/20 at 03:43 AM

Updated On: 7/27/20 at 03:43 AM

qolbinau said: "I decided to go back and read the script for this/listen to this, expecting to love the show because of the concept, creative team and stars. Hoping to find something to dream of Bernadette reviving. But this show is awful! I think if you were there at the time with Bacall it would have been at least an entertaining evening. Otherwise, there is no need for anyone to really revisit this. In fact, I wonder if someone could write a new musical adaptation. I feel like there is a good premise for a show here."

It's a star vehicle created for a star who couldn't sing, dance or act. Totally forgettable.

Did I see Raquel Welch in this in NY? or Ms Bacall? I can remember someone saying if I were to meet LB, not to mention RW[I did and I didn't].

I was a dresser to an American glam lesbot import in a play in Melbourne Australia who was very good friends with Betty-oh the stories in that dressing room. I was such a good dresser[couldn't sew on a button but was boy-cute] that she gave me her signed copy of Applause [Betty Bacall].

"It's a star vehicle created for a star who couldn't sing, dance or act. Totally forgettable."

Lauren Bacall could not act, really -lol

I saw this twice with Bacall. Enjoyed it both times, almost because of Bacall and Fuller...and Bonnie Franklin's two numbers. I purchased the album and listened to it about twice. The second time, I wanted to skip so many songs that it was not worth the bother. Ironically, I thought as the time that Something Greater was a terrific 11 o'clock number, although I will admit that I either did not hear some of the lyrics or they seemed reasonable at the time.

The show NEVER should have won the Tony. That should have gone to Purlie, whose audiences left the theatre exhilarated. Applause was a much bigger hit, however, due to Bacall; as a result, it was considered the foregone conclusion, although there was uncertainly to the end re Bacall vs. Hepburn. I thought Bacall was excellent but that Hepburn should have won the Tony...she was the whole show,.

I don't even think Applause should be revived in Summer Stock, unless some out-of-work ex-TV star pants to do it; if her show was popular enough, and given the subscription base for most of those remaining theatres, it would probably sell well. It would lose its shirt on Broadway...deservedly so.

BIG BALONEY said: "Lauren Bacall packed the Palace Theatre and made the show an event. Standing ovations and money was made by all Involved. I myself went three times to see a legend on stage."

In those days, shows rarely received standing ovations. The first SO I ever saw was for Angela Lansbury n Mame about 3 weeks after it opened in 1966. Not a person stood any of the other 3 times I saw her in the original production. I am pretty sure that I did not see another one until A Moon for the Misbegotten in 1973.

Mary Martin and Robert Preston did not get an SO on opening night of I Do! I Do! (I was there). Just didn't happen, unlike today, when audiences stand for drivel, presumably thinking 'I don't want them to feel bad'.

Jarethan said: "BIG BALONEY said: "Lauren Bacall packed the Palace Theatre and made the show an event. Standing ovations and money was made by all Involved. I myself went three times to see a legend on stage."

In those days, shows rarely received standing ovations. The first SO I ever saw was for Angela Lansbury n Mame about 3 weeks after it opened in 1966. Not a person stood any of the other 3 times I saw her in the original production. I am pretty sure that I did not see another one until A Moon for the Misbegotten in 1973.

Mary Martin and Robert Preston did not get an SO on opening night of I Do! I Do! (I was there). Just didn't happen, unlike today, when audiences stand for drivel, presumably thinking 'I don't want them to feel bad'."

Don't think it's out of kindness, myself. I think it's because they have to pay so damn much and going to the theater is so rare, they need to psyche themselves up into believing what they saw was worth it.