Fun old theatre stories

Much like some of the old Merman quotes and backstage stories from the Merman thread, post your favorite (older) theatre stories here, as I think many of us find them fascinating.

I just read that sometimes during SWEET CHARITY, Gwen Verdon would cut "Where Am I Going?" when she got too tired.

One day, she received a letter from an audience member complaining about the cut. Verdon calculated how much of the show was missing due to the lack of that number, and along with the full ticket price, calculated how much money the woman was owed for not getting to see that number. And she sent it to her.


I just thought that was a great story, and would love to hear some others.

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Here's a famous punchline, who can supply the theatre story that precedes it?


..."Poisoned jelly!!!"

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Another cool one:

(can you tell I'm obsessed with David Merrick?)

During the initial stages of I CAN GET IT FOR YOU WHOLESALE, the role of Mrs. Marmelstein was cut. One of Merrick's staff, Michael Shurtleff, spotted a young, unknown Barbra Streisand about town. He knew that she was always late, so he told her to show up at 3:00 for a 3:30 audition. She didn't show up until 4. Although she was completely unknown, she acted like she was hollywood royalty. They told her she was late, and she just said "Well I was walking past a thrift shop when this racoon fur caught my eye."

They told her to begin singing, and she replie "Oh, I have to sing?" She started singing, and stopped midway and said "I need a stool." So they got her a stool. She began singing again, stopped and said "I have to take this coat off." They were amazed by her audition, and after her final comedic song, there was silence. And she said "Well, whaddya think?", shading her eyes from the stage lights. They said she was good. She said "That's all?"

Aurthur Laurents wanted her immediately, but Merrick, mostly in denial of his own Jewish roots, told Michael Shurtleff that he absolutely refused to hire an ugly meeskite. (His words, not mine.) Laurents won, and she was cast. The entire rehearsal process, Merrick wanted her fired. He thought she was talented, but hideous. He kept pushing for her removal from the show, but once previews started, he knew he couldn't loose her. She stopped the show every night, and won a Tony nomination for her performance.

That year at the Tony awards, Phyllis Newman was nominated for SUBWAYS ARE FOR SLEEPING in the same category as Barbra Streisand. Merrick, having produced both shows, decided to sit with the SUBWAYS table, next to Newman. When her category came along, as they were reading the nominees, Merrick leaned over and whispered to Newman "Streisand's going to win. I know. I voted for her."

Newman won.

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The cast of HAIR got paid and extra $1.50 if they did the nude scene.

Stephen Sondheim was supposed to write the lyrics for FUNNY GIRL. When he found out Mary Martin was being pursued to play brice, he told them that she's completely wrong for the part, and he withdrew from the project. He told someone that they have to hire a Jew - and if not a Jew - she at least had to have a nose.

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That was Larry Kert in Company-- and it was Sondheim who said "The same person you had to f*ck to get in...."

And Munk if you haven't already, read "The Abomnible Showman" about Merrick-- he was a character and a half! To accompany a story of Merrick's latest escapade, Al Herschfeld drew a picture of him as Santa, only carrying a Bell, Book & Candle (Traditionally associated with Satan). Merrick screamed and blustered and threatened lawsuits, then took the picture and sent it out as that year's Christmas card.

Joshua Logan was known for exploiting the male image in his shows, and the result was often homo-erotic.

During SOUTH PACIFIC, some of the men had to wear extremely tight, white pants. He refused to allow them to wear underwear, so you could basically see everything AND everything moving around.

Some people complained, so he had to put up a sign at the box office window alerting the audience.

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I don't think Jelly was ever thrown, I believe he just held out the jar. I could be wrong.

During WONDERFUL TOWN, Edith Adams always had to quietly hum the first note of "Ohio" every night because Roz Russell was so insecure about the first note.


During one of the out of town tryouts for WEST SIDE STORY, Stephen Sondheim went unmentioned in the reviews, so Bernstein removed his credit for the lyrics.

In SWEENEY TODD, Pirelli's wagon was made of wood found in a junkyard. There were huge wood lice in it, and they infested all of the costumes and the rest of the set.

Scalpers for SOUTH PACIFIC sold tickets for as much as $100.

Merrick approved of the democrats using "Hello, Dolly!" for LBJ's camaign song. When the Republicans used it, he threatened a lawsuit.

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Here's a David Merrick story, told to me by Lee Roy Reams.

In the out of town previews for 42nd STREET in Washington, Wanda Richert had a sultry number -- "Lulu's Back In Town". You see, Wanda had just come off of -- okay, she was fired from -- the tour of A CHORUS LINE, and she still had visions of doing a "Cassie-like" number, complete with a red low-cut costume, awash in bugle beads, sequins, and the like. An expensive outfit for one person in one number.

Problem was: the number was completely out of character for "Peggy Sawyer". "Peggy" is a wide-eyed kid from the sticks, and she's up there doing a low-down sensual number? Uh, no.

Richert had the advantage, however. She was involved with the director, Gower Champion, as we all know. So he built this number for her, and it went into the show in Washington.

And it bombed. BOMBED. TANKED.

After that performance, Lee Roy was backstage in the hall, and he saw Merrick coming down the hall towards him with a scowl on his face. As he passed Lee Roy, Merrick cut his eyes toward him and muttered with venom:

"Know anyone that wants to buy a 'Lulu' dress?"

i read a lot of these in the 101 GREATESET MUSICALS OF ALL TIME or 101 BEST BROADWAY MUSICALS...i forgot what it is called, but yeah, lots of stories in there!

like i read that Gwen Verdon went undercover as a dance-hall hostess to get more of a feel for her character, so i find that interesting...

I'm pretty positive that most of that Streisand story isn't true. She also went through several auditions before getting the part.

Updated On: 9/26/06 at 12:52 PM

Another Merrick:

Dateline - 1996

Julie Andrews turns down her Tony nomination for Victor/Victoria. Merrick, who was shut out of best show nominations for his revival of State Fair, took out an article on the day of the Tony's. It read "Julie - Dinner tonight?"

The main faux pas of incorrectly spelling MRS. Marmelstein. It's MISS Marmelstein.

Oy!

"...why is it ALWAYS Miss Marmelstein?!"

"After he had written one song late at night for the musical Company (it was usually said to be The Ladies Who Lunch, but according to one - probably improved - version of the story, it was You Could Drive A Person Crazy), Sondheim looked out of his windows to see her, in a nightgown, glowering malevolently at him."

I heard this story, except the way I heard it was that he was writing Sweeney Todd and this incident inspired him to write some music for the Beggar Woman.

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