Audra in Applause

It's an intriguing idea.

Applause, to work, would need a major rewrite. The libretto unfortunately has little to none of All About Eve's crackling wit. It's a very dated show (though the swinging late 60s flavor that permeates it is great fun and should definitely be preserved, especially with that score).


If it were to be rewritten with Audra in mind, the librettist might at least want to consider making Margo, as she was in All About Eve, and as Audra certain is, simply a major stage icon.

A huge part of Applause's original success was that Bacall was perfectly cast. Not in small measure to Bacall being, just like Margo in Applause, a veteran movie star (and moreover, a veteran 40s movie star! - "teenage Margo, queen of the 40s flicks" could not have been a more star-tailored line) turned Broadway leading lady. This gave the original production at once a cred both nostalgic and very much of-the-moment that would be hard to replicate, and unfortunately critically "dating" the show.

To the great loss of American movies, Audra unfortunately doesn't have that cinematic pedigree (at least yet).

Updated On: 7/21/17 at 10:54 AM

There is a flaw with this proposal which would was originally revealed in the Encores production with Christine Ebersole a few years back.

Why cast a major singing star in a show that was specifically tailored to a star (Bacall) who wasn't really a singer and had a range of about an octave?

The Encores production revealed the many weaknesses of Applause. It is a good vehicle, but as a show it is lacking.

Applause is best left in memory.

Or... update the songs to be suitable for a better singer - it would hardly be the first time, or cast a non-singer star in the show? I cannot personally think of anyone with Lauren Bacall's star-power at the moment, but I'm sure there are plenty. Taraji P Henson in a few years/after a couple more movies?

When I was in college I played Duane in a local production of Applause. The director cast a woman who was a dead ringer for Lauren Bacall. She could not sing, dance, or act and she delivered everything to the ceiling. I looked up there one night to see if she had the lines up there or something. This married mother caused a great scandal by running off with the hot young drummer.

it didn't even dawn on me when my parents come in to see it and I was playing a gay character and how that might go over. My father walked out. I didn't notice until it was my big solo when I looked out in his chair was empty and I went down on my lines.

For this to work it would need a major overhaul. With Audra they could go back to making Margo a Broadway star like in All About Eve. I have the stage script to the original the Wisdom of Eve. I don't remember much about it but I think the film script is the strongest incarnation by far. And of course having the score written for the call would be wasted to be sung by someone with the voice of Audra McDonald.

Possibly a whole new script and score would be needed to make it work.

I think this is a totally absurd idea. Re-write the script, re-do any of the songs that Margo sings. People are forgetting that it really was a thoroughly mediocre show that was a hit because of Lauren Bacall. Both Purlie and Coco (yes Coco) were better musicals than Applause, and it was not a strong season, e.g., despite Hepburn and Bacall filling two of the slots, they were only able to come up with a third nominee for Best Actress in a Musical, Dylis Watling for Georgy, which ran -- I am pretty sure -- 8 performances, and was a really mediocre show with a couple of enjoyable songs.

There was a London revival a decade or so ago with a B - C player in the role of Margo, Stephanie Powers. It was a big flop and casting her was not the only reason. The critics were pretty clear that the show was past its expiration date.

I am worked up a little because I think there are so many other shows that would be better revived and will never likely get a shot.

It was a creature of its time..

Why not just do a whole new musical adaptation? It wouldn't be the first time and I think that APPLAUSE changed enough (mainly stage to movie star) for a more close adaptation to stand on its own.

I saw Dorothy Collins star in a summer stock production of Applause in the mid-1970s and as great as Bacall was playing Margo, it was a pleasure to see Collins in the role. As I recall, Ebersole was ill with the flu during the Encores! production, but still played all performances.

BrodyFosse123 said: "Stefanie Powers played Margo at the Paper Mill Playhouse back in 1996, not London.





Sorry, she also appeared in some musical about a matador around that time. Reviews were similar.

I adore Audra, but it really did seem like a left-field idea when he mentioned it. The hosts asked Strouse how it was to write for someone (Bacall), and he seemed to infer that it was actually rather easy as, according to him, she was a naturally musically-inclined person.

I do have a bit of a fascination for these types of shows that were hits in their day but have been relatively forgotten.

The Strouse interview was pretty fascinating. Here's a link to part 1: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/behind-the-curtain-broadways-living-legends/id1080144159?mt=2&i=1000380838797

and part 2: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/behind-the-curtain-broadways-living-legends/id1080144159?mt=2&i=1000381136118

Wasn't Audra in that workshop for Kiss of The Spiderwoman? I see her more in that then this.

Oh, for God's sake, WHY? (And WHY, my darling henrik, do you know so much about so many versions of the Margo/Eve story?)

Yes, Audra can sing the phone book as recitative and make a hit. So let her do it. We'll all have a better time.

For the record, APPLAUSE ran another year with other women in the star part after Betty left. I went back and saw it with Arlene Dahl, who was fine. Wish I could have seen it with Anne Baxter.

But it is not Comden and Green's best work. Let's literally revive every other show they wrote (How about Audra MacDonald as Hope Springfield in FADE OUT, FADE IN?) before we turn to APPLAUSE.

(FTR, I not only saw the original, I saw Reprise LA's production with Sheryl Lee Ralph. She was fine; the book not so much; the score even less.

I also did WONDERFUL TOWN with Bacall in the 1970s. Yes, she had no voice and, yes, she was too old for Ruth, but Betty still made the most difficult Bernstein numbers fun. I think that's what Strouse meant: God may not have given Betty a singing voice, but she could FEEL the music and she could move a little, so he could write for what she did have.)

Updated On: 7/22/17 at 11:27 AM