I was in the audience for the performance. It was a thrilling event, as all of those one-night-only Actors Fund concerts were. They had a real sense of occasion to them.
Sutton Foster was still in Thoroughly Modern Millie at the time and had a performance that evening, which is why she was given Fanny's first number (I'm the Greatest Star). She received special permission to sign in late for half-hour, and she went directly to the Marquis after finishing her number.
Julia Murney was not super well known at the time, even within the theater community. She had yet to make her official Broadway debut. She brought the house down with "People" and sang the number as if it was written for her. It was a real star-is-born moment.
Obviously, Lillias blew the roof off the joint with her "Don't Rain on My Parade."
Bebe Neuwirth was still dancing very well at the time, which made her a good choice for "Rat Tat Tat." Judy Kuhn sang beautifully and acted movingly in "Who Are You Now?" I remember being disappointed with Idina's "Cornet Man" and thinking Kristin was already overdosing on schtick in "His Love Makes Me Beautiful."
It was fun to see a lot of the other women that Seth recruited to play Fanny in the book scenes, like Whoopi and Ricki Lake, and Peter Gallagher was a wonderfully suave Nicky Arnstein. It was a thrill to see Kaye Ballard onstage, though I don't recall her being particularly good. The always superb Marcia Lewis was a treat as Mrs. Strakosh.
Obviously you were not going to get a cohesive performance with a different actress in every scene, and limited rehearsal time, so it's unfair to compare the work of twenty different women to what Lea Michele (or Julie Benko, or Beanie Feldstein) is doing in the current revival. But it was a special evening.
Updated On: 12/20/22 at 09:09 AM
