It's My Body and My Body's Nobodys Business But My Own

[FOAnatic]

Posted: 4/16/07 at 9:52pm

I'm sorry, but I love this number.

There's a video of the TONY performance on outubeYay.

It's so catchy and a great deal of fun. I wish I could have seen THE LIFE.

[Becoz_i_knew_you21]

Posted: 4/16/07 at 9:57pm

I saw that on there a couple of days ago.

[MungoGypsy8232]

Posted: 4/16/07 at 10:01pm

I watch that video every so often. What really annoys me is that there is one woman who looks like it's her first day on the job. Know which one i'm talking about?

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 4/16/07 at 10:02pm

I posted the rare promo video of "My Body" on that site, featuring the original Broadway cast -- it also includes a montage with all the ladies (in character) getting their mug shots. Sharon Wilkins' (as ChiChi) is hilarious.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 4/16/07 at 10:06pm

This musical was a piece of garbage but it was a lot of fun! Especially the drag queen doing cartwheels during the "Hooker's Ball!"

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 4/16/07 at 10:07pm

I've had that song in my head all week for some reason -- and I don't even own the cast recording. I never even saw the show. That number has just never left my mind since the Tony performance that year. I'm going to go check out the videos. Thanks for the heads up.

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 4/16/07 at 10:55pm

Does anyone have THE LIFE Concept CD with LIza and JHoliday?

It's cool.

Mungo - do you mean Katy Grenfell? In the jean shorts? She was in the original cast - as all of them. Sharon Wilkins is hilarious (love her mugshot)

"Lacey, get your calculator, baby. Let's figure this out...it says here I've been laid by over 15,000 men! Lord have mercy!" Updated On: 4/16/07 at 10:55 PM

[MungoGypsy8232]

Posted: 4/16/07 at 11:23pm

Yeah, i think that's the one. I know it's original cast, but she shows noticeably the least amount of expression onstage.

[harris007]

Posted: 4/16/07 at 11:34pm

i loved this show saw it twice, liked it better then titanic

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 4/16/07 at 11:53pm

Loved The Life.

What a knockout Lillias White was in that. tore the house down every night.

Because of that show I got to meet Mary Wilson, one of the original Supremes. (She was not in the show.) What a nice lady.

[hushpuppy]

Posted: 4/17/07 at 12:08am

Count me in the camp that liked THE LIFE a whole lot better than TITANIC.

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 4/17/07 at 12:09am

I loved both The Life and Titanic.

Both were great shows, great scores.

Posted: 4/17/07 at 12:17am

Titanic has some soaring music but the lyrics are everything that Yeston sometimes does worse--like the group numbers in particular people sing lyrics that don't sound even remotely the way anyone would naturally talk--it's all very strange.

All I know of The Life are the songs on Youtube, one that Sam Harris sang on some talk show and... that's it. I guess being a COleman fan I need to get the score--was he really working on it since 1975?? Peopel said the problemw as back then it seemed relevant--by 1995 it seemed very dated. I actually lvoe best the performance of the song done on the Rosie show--i need to try to digitze my 4 tapes of Rosie Broadway clips--so much great stuff.

brody--why did they make promo vids for Steel Pier and The Life that year when I don't usually see such elaborate vids for shows?

The main controversy I remember at the time was most people online who had seen it thougth the choreography reeked of poor Fosse imitation...

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 4/17/07 at 1:14am

THE LIFE was wildly uneven...good moments followed by really campy bad moments. There was one brutal scene in Act II where Memphis beats the **** out of Queen with the staging too realistic. Some good numneres in the score but not Coleman's best.

I liked TITANIC and STEEL PIER more but still I liked THE LIFE a LOT more than JEKYLL AND HYDE.

Posted: 4/17/07 at 1:24am

Havingn just recently seen Jeckyl (the video) I can't imagine it possibly being worse Unless of course the characterization and plto progress made as little inane sense as in Jeckyl

Wow I didn't realize that Life ran for over a year--not too bad considering the reviews I remember actually (Steel Pier got better reviews didn't it and hardly ran at all?)

E Updated On: 4/17/07 at 01:24 AM

[wyou17]

Posted: 4/17/07 at 1:33am

I'm with Foster. I never saw the show, never have listened to the cast recording, but on occassion will find myself singing, "It's my body, and my business..." solely based on the song getting stuck in my head from that year's Tony performance.

And Brody, thanks for the clip! The mugshots are priceless. I wish all shows recorded such elaborate promos. Debra Munks's Everybody's Girl is really shot wonderfully as well. You've been posting some fantastic videos lately! Thanks, and keep it up! It's certainly appreciated.

Posted: 4/17/07 at 1:37am

Yeah I used to always get the song stuck in my head too--from the Rosie performance alone.

I agree the promo video is great as is Monk's Everybody's Girl (tho they cut the opening) tho the dancing one for Steel Pier is really poorly filmed IMHO.

I still am surprised that this ran longer than I expected--putting it in perspective it ran longer than shows that in my head always seemed bigger successes like Coleman's Seesaw, or Sondheim's Passion, or K&E's Zorba... DId it tour?

[Broadway Bob*]

Posted: 4/17/07 at 2:32am

Katy Grenfall might have been pi$$ed that her big opening solo to the song was given to Lilas White to sing at the Tonys. I kinda understand, since White was nominated and the wanted to feature her, but what a slap in the face to Katy to take away her moment like that!

[WonderBoy]

Posted: 4/17/07 at 11:54am

Ummmm... I'm sorry but THE LIFE was the best new show that season hands down, in my opinion. I've said it here before but I must have seen that show at least 10 times and I even got to see Sharon go on for Lilias (however the swing who went on for Chi~Chi was not fat at all and that didn't work). I always wondered what happened to Bellamy Young. She was kickass in that show. In my opinion the weakest part of the show was Pamela Isaacs.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 4/17/07 at 12:09pm

The Life was a good show mainly because of the wonderful cast:

Pamela Isaacs (please bring your belt soprano back to Bway)
Lillias White
Chuck Cooper
Sam Harris
Vernel Bagneris

[tazber]

Posted: 4/17/07 at 12:09pm

Yeah, what did ever happen to Bellamy?

I really enjoyed The Life. I think the score is superb (and I, like Eric am a huge Cy fan). I like it better that Will Rogers Follies to be sure.

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 4/17/07 at 12:16pm

I thought it was the name of a self advice book for a second. I forgot about this song from The Life.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 4/17/07 at 12:22pm

Bellamy Young. Hmmm. Well...she works extensively on television. Most notably she played Monica West on some little TV show called CSI: MIAMI and as Dr. Grace Miller on that little NBC TV show SCRUBS. Appeared on episodes of NORTH SHORE and MEDIUM. She also completed a few films, and is currently filming THIS IS NOT A TEST with Tom Arnold.



Updated On: 4/17/07 at 12:22 PM

[Kringas]

Posted: 4/17/07 at 12:28pm

Thanks, Stacey!

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 4/17/07 at 12:37pm

THE LIFE did run a little over a year but many of those weeks it was far below capacity. Check the grosses: The first weeks of previews it was only selling 35-40%. The Tony niminations helped. (The reviews didn't.)

Roger Berlind was a co-producer of THELIFE and also the producer of STEEL PIER. He did not have enough money to keep both struggling shows going. THE LIFE had won two Tonys and (it is my belief) he decided to put his promotional budget into that show. I saw both: STEEL PIER, though flawed, was still a better overall show. But his decision wasn't based on that. Without any Tony wins, and minimal advance sale STEEL PIER would probably not have lasted much past labour day. HE felt that by promoting TEH LIFE it could have a sucecssful run. It still closed with a huge loss. Look at the grosses: Many weeks were very low.

THE LIFE did not tour, and has not been picked up by regional and community theatres. ALl that remains is the OCR, and it is not one of the better produced cast albums of the era.