Jill Haworth - The ORIGINAL Sally Bowles in the musical CABARET

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 11/30/14 at 1:02pm

Jill Haworth is my absolutely favorite "Sally Bowles" and this purely based on her renditions of the Kander-Ebb songs on the Original Broadway Cast Album.

I was not born yet when the groundbreaking original Broadway production opened in 1967.

It's a testament to her dedication and love for this show that despite a scathing review of her performance by Walter Kerr she was undeterred and remained with the show for a full 2 years before leaving to resume her movie career.

Everyone involved with this original production have nothing but praise and wonderful things to say about her contributions. Joel Grey went so far to say that Jill *was* Sally Bowles.

Any BWW out there who had the good fortune to see Haworth in the role I would love to hear your opinions on her performance and the show in general.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 11/30/14 at 1:04pm

Jill Haworth with Bert Convy (Cliff)

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 11/30/14 at 1:05pm

Stills from the Original 1967 production of CABARET

[ShakinBaconGirl]

Posted: 11/30/14 at 1:05pm

It's a mystery all her co-stars we nominated for Tony Awards and not her. I wonder what Kerr didn't like about her performance.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 11/30/14 at 1:07pm

It's too bad that writing was invited after he reviewed Cabaret.

[theatreguy]

Posted: 11/30/14 at 1:23pm

Kerr's review:

http://www.nytimes.com/mem/theater/treview.html?pagewanted=print&res=FC77E7DF1731E162BC4951DFB767838D679EDE&_r=0

"Cabaret is a stunning musical with one wild wrong note.

...

"We are left now with the evening's single, and all too obvious, mistake. One of the cabaret tables is empty, the table reserved for heroine Sally Bowles. Sally Bowles, as the narrative has it, is a fey, fetching, far-out lassie with a head full of driftwood and a heart she'd rather break than shackle. She is a temperament, and she needs a temperament to play her.

"Producer-director Harold Prince, in a totally uncharacteristic lapse of judgment, has miscast a pretty but essentially flavorless ingenue, Jill Haworth, in the role. Miss Haworth has certain skills and may be able to use them in other ways. Wrapped like a snowball in white fur and sporting that pancake tam that girls of the twenties used to wear whenever they were going to be photographed having snowball fights, she succeeds-at some angles-in looking astonishingly like Clara Bow. But her usefulness to this particular project ends there. She is trim but neutral, a profile rather than a person, and given the difficult things Cabaret is trying to do, she is a damaging presence, worth no more to the show than her weight in mascara.

"The damage is deeply serious and must be stressed."

[KathyNYC2]

Posted: 11/30/14 at 1:26pm

I saw her when I was VERY VERY young so my memories are dim. But I do remember her as an AMAZINGLY affecting actress in the role, though she didn't really "sing". Walter Kerr was upset that she didn't have a great singing voice and was unemotional as a character - he missed the point entirely.

I also remember her at 14 years old in a role in the 50's movie Exodus where she played Karen, a child of the holocaust.... and she was simply luminous. Transforming from Karen to Sally was impressive.

I forgot she recently passed away...I think Joel Gray is the only lead actor still alive from the original production.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 11/30/14 at 1:43pm

@KathyNYC2: EXODUS was released in 1960 and was Jill Haworth's movie debut - - - and for her first movie she does give a very touching performance. Sal Mineo played her love interest and they soon became lovers in real life as well. Otto Preminger was so impressed with her that he cast her in THE CARDINAL and IN HARM'S WAY.

I think after CABARET her movie career never fully recovered and she wound up in B-Horror films and TV movies.

Sadly, she passed away on January 3, 2011.

She remained in New York City most of her life and was understandably upset when she was not invited to attend the opening of the 1998 Broadway revival of CABARET starring Alan Cumming and Natasha Richardson.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 11/30/14 at 1:46pm

Thanks theaterguy for linking the original Kerr review. What a horrible, horrible review. That review would slay any performer, but the lady had guts and remained with the show regardless.

She was obviously stronger than some people (including Kerr) gave her credit for.

Updated On: 11/30/14 at 01:46 PM

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 11/30/14 at 1:50pm

Here is a wonderful profile of Jill Haworth written by Mr. Tom Lisanti

When the 1998 revival of Cabaret with Natasha Richardson and Alan Cumming opened on Broadway, the producers rudely snubbed Haworth. "Two years, four months, and ten days," recited Jill. "That's how long I played Sally on Broadway. You would think that would have earned me an invite to the opening." Maybe they couldn't find you, it was suggested. "Hell, I've been living in the same apartment since 1965," she exclaimed.


Jill Haworth: Her Life Was A Cabaret Updated On: 11/30/14 at 01:50 PM

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 11/30/14 at 2:33pm

I absolutely adore her performance on the cast album as well. How I wish I could have seen her Sally way back then. There's actually a bit of footage of her on a later Tonys telecast:

Updated On: 11/30/14 at 02:33 PM

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 11/30/14 at 4:39pm

I have heard that her performances were inconsistent--she could be brilliant one night and the seem off the next, so that may have played a part. Love her on the recording.

[DAME]

Posted: 11/30/14 at 6:13pm

@Carlos... Que embustera eres.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 11/30/14 at 6:15pm

@ DAME: ¿Estas bebiendo otra vez?

[DAME]

Posted: 11/30/14 at 6:18pm

Yes. But I was referring to that little tidbit of you not being around in 1967. hMMM

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 11/30/14 at 6:51pm

I wasn't. I was born in 1968.

[DAME]

Posted: 11/30/14 at 7:35pm

Then so was I.

[jv92]

Posted: 11/30/14 at 9:12pm

I think Jill played Sally Bowles. (As did Natasha Richardson, Judi Dench, and recently, Michelle Williams.) I think Liza played Liza. It's a good movie, and she's wonderful, but it's not CABARET.

[Jarethan]

Posted: 11/30/14 at 9:19pm

I saw her three times and thought she was terrific. I could never understand Walter Kerr's review, but I was 15 years old. He had a habit of going on and on if he loved a performance...his review of Barbara Harris in The Apple Tree a little earlier in the season was the most amazing rave I ever read...to this day, I refer to a rave for a performance as a 'Barbars Harris'.

At the time, I assumed one of two things: that his vision of Sally was different than her interpretation OR that he was evaluating other female lead perpfrmances relative to the 'Barbara Harris'.

I still think her interpretation of Cabaret is the best ever.

[jv92]

Posted: 11/30/14 at 9:30pm

John Kander has said that Judi Dench was the most astonishing Sally ever. Judging from the London cast album, I think he's certainly right. She acts the F*CK out of that title song!

[jemjeb2]

Posted: 12/1/14 at 10:32am

Kerr was known for playing favorites - certain stars could do no wrong, but when he wasn't pleased - look out! I saw Haworth's Sally and loved it. Many of us at the time talked of the unfairness of his review. Jill was twenty when Cabaret opened and her youth ( even in that BLACK wig) seemed perfectly suited for the part. When she stepped through that sequined curtain to perform the title song it was memorable and thrilling. Michelle Williams reminded me of Jill Haworth.

[jv92]

Posted: 12/1/14 at 10:51am

I agree. I've always thought of Sally as a naif with little girl qualities-- a lost little girl in too grown up a world. And I think Haworth probably pulled that off. Michelle Williams certainly did. I was a champion of her performance.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 12/1/14 at 10:57am

Thanks Jarethan, jemjeb and jv92 for posting. I was hoping someone, *anyone* who was fortunate enough to have seen the original production would share their opinion regarding Haworth. She's absolutely my favorite (recorded) Sally. Judi Dench is definitely second on my list.

And I have to agree jv92 on your assessment re: Liza. Great movie nonetheless.




Updated On: 12/1/14 at 10:57 AM

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 12/1/14 at 10:59am

This still always gets me. I can only imagine how it played out.

[theeatah]

Posted: 12/1/14 at 5:41pm

I remember reading that something like two weeks after opening Haworth expressed boredom and dismay at having to do keep doing the same thing night after night, which horrified stage veteran Lotte Lenya.

It seems strange considering how long Haworth spent in the show, though perhaps she stayed with the show because of a lack of other job offers.

Comparing the original cast recording, I find Dench and Dennen much more impressive than Haworth and Grey (I think Grey is more lively on the '72 Soundtrack).