Dorothy Loudon in Annie

[Isabella2]

Posted: 4/23/06 at 10:26pm

does anyone know how long Ms. Laudon was in annie? She started in 1977 but how long did she stay in the show?
Updated On: 4/23/06 at 10:26 PM

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 4/23/06 at 10:28pm

She did it about a year - she left in 1978 to work on BALLROOM. She was replaced by Alice Ghostly.

[Isabella2]

Posted: 4/23/06 at 10:35pm

thanks, if you've seen alice ghostly, what do you think of her?

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 4/23/06 at 10:37pm

You might want to ask this question on the Talkinbroadway.com message board - there are lots more "old timers" on that board who probably saw Dorothy and Alice do the roles. Most of us here were barely born yet.

But just be sure to spell Dorothy's last name correctly or they will take your head off. It's Loudon.

[Glebb]

Posted: 4/23/06 at 10:45pm

I saw Ballroom but not Annie.

[Isabella2]

Posted: 4/23/06 at 10:47pm

thanks, i hear she was a huge diva and an actual drunk and that's why no one really liked her but that's only what my music instructor says.
Updated On: 4/23/06 at 10:47 PM

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 4/23/06 at 10:50pm

She definitely sufferred from admitted alchoholism in the 70s, but cleaned up her act in the 80s. She may have been a diva but she was an absolute genius as a performer.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 4/23/06 at 11:33pm

I saw her in "Annie" and the word that runs through my mind for a description of her performance was "delicious."

[alterego]

Posted: 4/24/06 at 9:27am

Her final performance in ANNIE was on Sunday the 12th of August 1978.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 4/24/06 at 9:43am

I saw both Dorothy Loudon and Alice Ghostly. They gave very different performances. I preferred Ms. Loudon's.

[WonderBoy]

Posted: 4/24/06 at 11:58am

Dorothy Loudon was shear unadulterated genius in ANNIE and everything other role she played. She is greatly missed.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 4/24/06 at 12:01pm

Your Music Instructor told you Dorothy Loudon Drank?
What kinda class are they teaching?

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/24/06 at 12:04pm

Dorothy Loudon made Annie funnier than it had any right to be.

Dorothy Loudon made funny funnier.

Isabella--tell your music instructor that PalJoey says he or she is a talentless hack with bad taste.

[morosco]

Posted: 4/24/06 at 12:07pm

Dorothy Loudon was sublime. After ANNIE I had the pleasure of seeing her in BALLROOM, SWEENEY TODD, and NOISES OFF. I cherish my memories of her performances. I miss her.
Updated On: 4/24/06 at 12:07 PM

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 4/24/06 at 12:17pm

She was brilliant in everything I ever saw her in, and in this role particularly.

I wish I had seen her play Lovett, but missed her.

I've never heard any hint that she was difficult, and only know about love for her. Lesser actresses would've been seen as chewing scenery...but her timing and expression was always spot on.

There are highlights of Annie all over the place, you can find them pop up on PBS.
Watch her sing Easy Street
Watch her sing 50 Percent from Ballroom

From Sondheim tributes, watch her sing Broadway Baby and an incredible medley of Losing My Mind and You Could Drive a Person Crazy.

Drunk or not...amazing.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 4/24/06 at 12:20pm

The only other time that I had seen Dorothy Loudon on stage was in Jerry's Girls. She was a hoot. Her sheer presence on the stage, brought laughter to the audience.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 4/24/06 at 12:21pm

I saw her in Encores "Sweet Adeline". She had the comic song "My Husband's First Wife".

You can see her on the DVD "My Favorite Broadway: The Leading Ladies" doing 50% from Ballroom.

She also has a small role in "Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil"

[Brennan88]

Posted: 4/24/06 at 12:25pm

I don't think it's any big secret that she had trouble with alcohol, especially after her husband died, but God bless her, she was funny as hell.

I never had the pleasure of seeing her perform live, but I did talk to her on the phone once (an old answering service job.) She started to spell her name for me, and like an old show queen, I chirped, "Oh no, Miss Loudon...I know how to spell YOUR name!" She seemed tickeled, and was very sweet.

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 4/24/06 at 12:33pm

I believe she was open about her drinking after she recovered. That doesnt surprise me, but the allegation of being a diva and not well liked seems quite wrong....NOT that I am taking the word of someone's music teacher.

[Princeton78]

Posted: 4/24/06 at 12:38pm

How much are you paying your music teacher to gossip with you?

[CharlieBrown]

Posted: 4/24/06 at 12:44pm

If I remember correctly, her husband had died shortly before she began work on "Ballroom," which gave her performance as a lonely widow in that musical added resonance and poignance.

Given how Michael Bennett had worked magic with "A Chorus Line" by using the performer's real-life stories to such stunning effect, I can't help but wonder if his choice of Dorothy Louden for "Ballroom" was both brilliant -- and a little cruel.

[Calvin]

Posted: 4/24/06 at 1:01pm

doodle, that medley is one of the most fabulous things on my iPod. So said she didn't make it to Dinner at Eight.

[Babyboomer]

Posted: 4/24/06 at 5:04pm

Saw Dorothy Loudon in Annie, Sweeney Todd & Ballroom. She was incomparable- the best of the best. A true one of a kind.

[Isabella2]

Posted: 4/24/06 at 6:25pm

sorry guys, i said the wrong things. My school music instructor talks to me about how amazing and funny and talented Ms. Loudon was. He a HUGE admirer of hers and he talks about the way she did things constantly when he saw her in annie. He just mentioned that she had a drinking problem and that she was hard to work with. sorry for the misunderstanding.