Did Betty Buckley, Judy Kaye or Priscilla Lopez audition for Evita?- Page 4

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 5/30/12 at 9:30am

I'm not sure its the hallmark of a good or 'interesting' director to be one who waits for what he thinks he wants to simply show up in the audition room (or in the rehearsal hall for that matter).

Prince's strong suit has always been in his staging. Guiding actors' performances seems to always have been secondary for him, and I know it has been a very difficult thing for a lot of the people who have appeared in his productions to basically not have that guiding force in creating a character.

A friend who starred in Prince's production of SHOWBOAT told me that Prince never - not once - ever offered her a single performance or character note.

Angela Lansbury I believe has spoken about the frustration she had working with Prince on SWEENEY TODD citing a similar complaint (she credits Len Cariou for really helping to guide her performance in the piece) and LuPone in her memoir describes the very bizarre experience of being frightened when Prince came to see EVITA after a few weeks in Los Angeles because she had completely gone against his direction only to have him say 'yes, that's exactly what I want.'

True, some directors hire actors they trust will help mold the performance on their own, but I think Prince's rather erratic experience with casting indicates that while he may know what he likes when he sees it, he doesn't necessarily have a consistent vision of what he thinks a character should be.

[AC126748]

Posted: 5/30/12 at 9:53am

When did Madonna officially become involved/attached to the film? I'm remembering back to another FORBIDDEN BROADWAY sketch about her in Speed-the-Plow, set to "The Rain in Spain." The David Mamet/Joe Mantagna characters ask her why she's on Broadway, and she replies: "Training for the film Evita." This had to be at least 88/89.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 5/30/12 at 9:57am

The link that Sister George provided gives a very detailed description of the genesis of the film of EVITA in all its incarnations. Madonna's name was first mentioned in the mid 80s.
History of the film version of EVITA

[AC126748]

Posted: 5/30/12 at 10:00am

Thanks, I missed that post. Going to read the article now.

[Jon]

Posted: 5/30/12 at 10:16am

Lopez blew out her vocal cords doing A DAY IN HOLLYWOOD/A NIGHT IN THE UKRAINE, in which she had just one big solo, plus ensemble numbers in Act I, and was totally silent in Act II (she played Harpo Marx). She could never have handled Evita.

[QueenAlice]

Posted: 5/6/20 at 11:35am

I've been reminiscing with friends about the original London production of EVITA - and of course, I had to come look up what people have written here on the boards. It is a lot of fun to visit this thread from years back.

In London, at the time, there was a lot of press about Julie Covington not playing the part. The British papers (being prone to tabloid level journalism) hinted that Covington was an 'erratic' personality. I always kind of interpreted that to mean she was bi-polar and unreliable and that's why she didn't do it -- in truth, she later had some big successes on stage in the UK, but her career trajectory has been famously spotty.

When Covington declined, there was also a lot of speculation in the press about 'a big Hollywood star' type creating the role on stage instead, so that was not something that began with the New York production.  The name I remember most hearing was Petula Clark (too old at age 45). The other name that was bandied about a lot was Raquel Welch, who surely wouldn't have been able to sing it.

When Paige was cast, it was all sunshine and roses (local London girl makes good) but when she began missing performances, the press had a field day - and that's when news reporters began digging around and bringing up Bonnie Schon, a more experienced American stage actress who had been Prince's favorite going into the finals but was a surprise loser to Paige in the end.

Paige didn't originally have an alternate - she did 8 shows a week - when she began missing, her understudy, a 21-year-old American girl named Susannah Fellows stepped in and made quite a splash.  Reports were that she sang the role better than Paige and was more effective, especially in the early part of the show, than Paige was. (This scenario btw echoes almost exactly what later happened in the states with LuPone and her alternate, Terri Klausner).

When Prince decided that the best solution was to split weekly performances, there was much 'shock' when Fellows was not given the shared duties - it was instead announced in the press that Diane Langton would share the part with Paige (and that she had lost 20 pounds to play the part).  And then that didn't happen - suddenly the shared duties went to Marti Webb who was brought out of retirement (at age 35) and promised the chance to replace when Paige went to Broadway to open the show (everyone assumed Paige would go to Broadway).

There was, of course, a lot of fuss when Paige was denied the opportunity to open the show in New York. And even more surprise in the UK when Patti LuPone was cast (the English press surmised the Broadway casting, if not Paige, would naturally default to the Americans, Bonnie Schon or Susannah Fellows who were already connected to the role).

So it was all very interesting. Reading over the comments in this thread, it sounds like Prince was rather sporadic and intuitive in his casting.  I've often wondered why many of the ladies mentioned above never went on to play the role full time in some production of the show, but I guess Prince, in the moment of making the final casting decision at each step, just felt each wasn't 'quite' right in some way.

Updated On: 5/6/20 at 11:35 AM

[joevitus]

Posted: 5/6/20 at 2:11pm

 

Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content

 

nobodyhome said: ""Yep. Hal said that about Madeline. I don't really believe him though. I think he said it more out of anger over Kahn quitting 2oth Century. Kahn was a big deal at the time with multiple Oscar nominations. I'm sure he knew who she was (or someone told him before hiring her!)"

It's such a bizarre thing to say and something that reflects so badly on him — how could someone confuse Madeline Kahn and Bernadette Peters? — that I have to think it's true.

And I've never heard that Kahn quit. I've always heard that she was pressured to leave.

There's a book on Kahn that may be published by the end of the year. Perhaps if that does happen, it will clarify things."

I only know this from a story Prince himself told, so it may be unfair, biased, etc. But he says opening night she was fantastic. Hysterically funny. The audience went wild. First thing she said to him after the curtain went down was "You don't think I'm going to do that every night do you?" He said at that moment, he realized they were sunk, and thereafter basically she just walked through the role at most performances. Someone I know who has worked with Kahn developing material believes that story was probably accurate (and that person admired her talent).

Updated On: 5/6/20 at 02:11 PM

[ajh]

Posted: 5/6/20 at 6:39pm

QueenAlice, thanks for bumping this thread. So enjoyable to read it all again, especially currently with so much time on my hands!

One tiny thing.... when Diane Langton didn’t end up becoming the Evita alternate in OLC for whatever reason (and would love to know what happened), Susannah Fellows WAS officially promoted from understudy  to ‘Alternate Eva’ billing, complete with her own colour photo portrait outside the theatre, and photo in #2 edition of the souvenir brochure. She was the first Evita I saw and she was mind-blowing.

Fellows left the production after a year to be replaced, as you said, by Marti Webb who had the unique ‘Special Guest Star’ billing for her stint as the alternate. When Webb took over as the principal Evita, her new alternate, the late great Stephanie Lawrence, was given the “who plays Eva at certain performances” billing that has been used ever since.

 

Updated On: 5/6/20 at 06:39 PM

[Laurapattifan]

Posted: 5/6/20 at 8:39pm

Patti came to Evita through Kevin Kline according to Joanna Merlin. When he was in On the Twentieth Century, they attended Hal’s Christmas party some networking happening I guess? I believe that’s how it happened. From her episode of Behind the Curtain.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 5/6/20 at 10:45pm

Leadingplayer said: "I found an article from "People." That must be where Lupone got the Streep, Dunaway, Welch thing. Notice the article just says they wanted a stage role not particularly "Evita." I doubt any of those women even auditioned since they would have known the vocal demands the role required since the show had been done before in London."

Like JCS, EVITA was a hit concept album well before it opened in London even. Every musical actress I knew in NYC was working on her "Eva" years before casting officially began.

FTR, Betty Buckley did audition for A DOLL'S LIFE, which opened two weeks before she appeared in CATS. I'm told her audition was just downright "weird" (much more "Grisabella" than "Nora", but Paul Gemignani told me he thought she had the greatest voice on Broadway.

[NOWaWarning]

Posted: 5/7/20 at 5:58am

Imagine Buckley in her prime tearing through that score. Shame that never happened. She’s never done any of the songs in concert or on her albums, has she?

[Dollypop]

Posted: 5/7/20 at 7:53am

MTVMANN said: "I doubt Priscilla Lopez could have handled the songs...Betty Buckley could have.

On a side-note, in both interviews with Elaine Paige and Patti LuPone they mention that Movie Stars auditioned for the role. Who were they?"

 

 

Loretta Swit

 

[imeldasturn]

Posted: 5/7/20 at 9:34am

NOWaWarning said: "Imagine Buckley in her prime tearing through that score. Shame that never happened. She’s never done any of the songs in concert or on her albums, has she?"

https://through-my-memoirs.tumblr.com/post/144766932501/betty-buckley-sings-dont-cry-for-me-argentina

Here's a clip of Betty singing Don't Cry for Me Argentina in Boston in 1996

Updated On: 5/7/20 at 09:34 AM

[matt1982]

Posted: 5/7/20 at 9:49am

Great thread!  ALW really seemed to love having massive casting speculation about his shows, between this and Sunset.  

Interesting that there haven't been shows in the last 10 - 15 years that have had huge media wide casting speculation.  Unless there is something I'm not thinking about.

 

[QueenAlice]

Posted: 5/7/20 at 10:25am

ajh said: "QueenAlice, thanks for bumping this thread. So enjoyable to read it all again, especially currently with so much time on my hands!

One tiny thing.... when Diane Langton didn’t endup becoming the Evita alternate in OLC for whatever reason (and would love to know what happened),Susannah Fellows WAS officially promoted from understudyto ‘Alternate Eva’ billing,complete with her own colour photo portrait outside the theatre, and photo in #2 edition of the souvenir brochure.She was the first Evita I saw and she was mind-blowing.

Fellows left the production after a year to be replaced, as you said,by Marti Webb who had the unique ‘Special Guest Star’ billing for her stint as the alternate. When Webbtook over as the principal Evita, her new alternate, the late great Stephanie Lawrence, was given the “who plays Eva at certain performances” billing that has been used ever since.

"

Ajh -- I'm delighted to read your post, and am very happy to be wrong in my account of Susannah Fellows never having the opportunity to step up in the role as the alternate. Over the years, I've seen Fellows in other things (she certainly maintained her relationship with Andrew Lloyd Webber and she has always been remarkable -- to this day continues to have a spectacular voice.   Do you have any more memories of her in the part?  I seem to remember there was some bemusement over the fact that Fellows is rather tall and that certain bits on the set had to be modified because they had been skewed initially for the diminutive Paige. 

That Fellows did get to be the alternate gives more credence to the press surprise about her not being considered for the American premiere - but a friend reminded me that by that point Rice and Paige were lovers. He, at least, certainly would have been sensitive to the idea of the blow to Paige not being able to go to NY would only have been exacerbated if her American alternate went in her place.

 

 

[NOWaWarning]

Posted: 5/7/20 at 10:29am

Here's a clip of Betty singing Don't Cry for Me Argentina in Boston in 1996

Bless you! She sounds incredible!

 

[joevitus]

Posted: 5/7/20 at 2:05pm

imeldasturn said: "NOWaWarning said: "Imagine Buckley in her prime tearing through that score. Shame that never happened. She’s never done any of the songs in concert or on her albums, has she?"

https://through-my-memoirs.tumblr.com/post/144766932501/betty-buckley-sings-dont-cry-for-me-argentina

Here's a clip of Betty singing Don't Cry for Me Argentina in Boston in 1996"

Thank you so much for this!

[joevitus]

Posted: 5/7/20 at 10:25pm

Have to say, though, she doesn't have the right voice for the role. I don't mean she can't hit the notes or anything. But she sounds--and it's not really in her style to sound so--too fastidiously "operatic" here. This is not a knock on Buckley as a singer, performer or person. Actually, I know a couple of people who have met her (I think one of them worked with her, or at least was a casual acquaintance), and she's supposedly a pretty wonderful person.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 5/8/20 at 12:35am

Betty is such a different person now than she used to be, say 30 years ago. She’s one of the sweetest, most caring and amazing human beings you’d ever want to be around. And she also had (in my opinion) the greatest voice in the history of the musical theater.

[joevitus]

Posted: 5/8/20 at 2:22am

Jordan Catalano said: "Betty is such a different person now than she used to be, say 30 years ago. She’s one of the sweetest, most caring and amazing human beings you’d ever want to be around. And she also had (in my opinion) the greatest voice in the history of the musical theater."

How is she different? I've always heard good things about her. What surprised me to learn was that, though she has been famously cast as the levelheaded, voice-of-reason type (the film version of Carrie; Eight is Enough), she's apparently a very giddy and rather quirky person. 

[Highland Guy]

Posted: 5/8/20 at 2:58am

I attended this performance of "Hello, Dolly!" in San Diego when Betty Buckley paid tribute to Carol Channing, who had just passed.  I will always remember that evening.

My association with Miss Buckley dates to 1969 when I first saw her in the London production of "Promises, Promises".  In the intervening 50 years, I've had the pleasure of attending many of her wonderful performances and concerts.  When once by chance I was able to speak with her for perhaps 10 minutes, she signed my "Promises, Promises" program from so long ago.  It is framed and hangs above my desk.

It serves no purpose to slander her with unsubstantiated claims of being "monstrously difficult".  

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/VIDEO-Betty-Buckley-and-the-Cast-of-HELLO-DOLLY-Pay-Tribute-to-Carol-Channing-20190118 

 

Updated On: 5/8/20 at 02:58 AM

[imeldasturn]

Posted: 5/8/20 at 3:08am

If you have recovered from the shock of the tap dancing Jesus, you'll notice that I used the past tense. There are many threads on the topic on this board, joevitus asked a question and I answered as vaguely and tactfully as I could. Dozens people here would say the same. Also I'm sure you do realize that having a 10 minute interaction is not the same as working elbow to elbow with someone for a prolonged period of time.

[QueenAlice]

Posted: 5/8/20 at 9:30am

It's fun hearing that clip of Buckley singing "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" -- I've always imagined what she would have been like as EVITA -- in truth, I have to agree with Joevitus that her voice doesn't afterall seem ideal for the material - though of course, she toured in The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber 20 years after EVITA opened and Buckley's voice in the mid 70s was a bit different.

I had forgotten that Petula Clark had a hit with "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" - in French! This was in 1977 - so after the Julie Covington concept recording but before the  London stage production. So, it makes sense that she was one of the 'names' I heard being bandied around a lot when they were first casting the  West End premiere.  Vocally, I think Petula 'is' right for the part -- and probably she could have sung it -- but likely would have been unconvincing as the teenage Eva.  That said, she did play Maria in THE SOUND OF MUSIC  four years after EVITA opened and pulled it off.

Here is a video of her singing "Don't Cry for Me" in the early 1980s...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CI4WkPWSOlE

Updated On: 5/8/20 at 09:30 AM

[Highland Guy]

Posted: 5/8/20 at 10:46am

imeldasturn said: "If you have recovered from the shock of the tap dancing Jesus, you'll notice that I used the past tense. There are many threads on the topic on this board, joevitus asked a question and I answered as vaguely and tactfully as I could. Dozens people here would say the same. Also I'm sure you do realize that having a 10 minute interaction is not the same as working elbow to elbow with someone for a prolonged period of time."

 

Having followed Miss Buckley's extraordinary career for more than half a century, I can state that not once in all those years have I read a reliable account of her being "monstrously difficult".  In fact, time and again her warm and generous personality are mentioned.  I question your motives in making such a monstrously ridiculous and inflammatory accusation.

And now (happily for me) our brief and unplesasant interaction comes to an end.  

Updated On: 5/8/20 at 10:46 AM

[QueenAlice]

Posted: 5/8/20 at 11:04am

Oh, I've definitely heard first-hand horror stories about Buckley from people who have worked with her in the 1980s; she was also notoriously demanding in contract negotiations during the peak of her career, and I do think that resulted in her losing out on some wonderful roles.  She does seem to have mellowed with age -- and I should add that the same people who said 'never again' said they meant that only professionally. She has always been known as a lovely Texan gal- when you aren't working with her. At any rate, let's not let the thread digress into a Betty Buckley personality speculation thread- there are already plenty of those.