LEGENDS

[children&art]

Posted: 1/2/06 at 1:33am

Let's make a list of legendary Broadway actors and the roles that they are inextricably linked with - elevating them to legend status.

Donna Murphy - "Passion"
Yul Brenner - "The King and I"
Ethel Merman - "Annie Get Your Gun"
Chita Rivera - "Kiss of the Spiderwoman"

[Kringas]

Posted: 1/2/06 at 1:39am

I would definitely argue that Chita's would be West Side Story and possibly agrue that Merman's would be Gypsy.

[smartpenguin78]

Posted: 1/2/06 at 1:44am

I would contend that Merman was a legend long before Gypsy, although that was when she was finally deemed an "actress."

[children&art]

Posted: 1/2/06 at 1:44am

okay i agree with that i guess. more specifically what im thinking of is think of a role and the one actor who made it their own so totally that everyone after playing that part will be compared to in terms of that actor.

[smartpenguin78]

Posted: 1/2/06 at 2:06am

If that is what you mean then Merman in Gypsy is an absolute. As well as Lansbury in SWEENEY TODD. Gwen Verdon in SWEET CHARITY.

[Patronus]

Posted: 1/2/06 at 2:22am

Bernadette Peters in Into the Woods
Jennifer Holliday in Dreamgirls
Brian Stokes Mitchell in Ragtime
Christopher J. Hanke in In My Life

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 1/2/06 at 2:39am

Jerry Orbach, 42nd St
Zero Mostel, Fiddler
Patti Lupone, Evita

and yeah,

Chita, West Side Story

[jimmirae]

Posted: 1/2/06 at 3:29am

Chita Rivera - "Chicago"
Gwen Verdon - "Damn Yankees"
Betty Buckley - "Cats"
Cleo Laine - "Mystery of Edwin Drood"
Patti LuPone - "Anything Goes"
Liza Minnelli - "The Act"
Bernadeet Peters - "Sunday in the Park with George" (I LOVE Dot!)
Ann Miller - "Sugar Babies"
Ethel Merman - I think she did everything!
Mrs. Brolin - "Funny Girl"
I was just wondering why Bette hasn't done more Broadway, and it may drum up memories of the tragedy with her sister during "Fiddler on the Roof" - that was awful.

[bigrab1018]

Posted: 1/2/06 at 3:35am

"I was just wondering why Bette hasn't done more Broadway, and it may drum up memories of the tragedy with her sister during "Fiddler on the Roof" - that was awful."

What?

[jimmirae]

Posted: 1/2/06 at 4:56am

Oh yes, Bette Midler was doing "Fiddler on the Roof" on Broadway and playing one of the daughters (I believe), anyway, her sister flew in from Hawaii to see the show and on the way to the Theater was struck and killed by a cab. That may be why she has kept her distance from being in a "Broadway Show" (She has had concert stops in Equity Houses like the Minskoff but not in a "Broadway Show" per se)
It seems after she healed a while from that she went right to the Baths (Wouldn't You? I would!) and became "The Divine Miss M" with a nice jewish piano player named Barry something (LOL!) and met up with a funny boy that wrote her some excellent jokes (Bruce Vilanch)and the rest is history.

Updated On: 1/2/06 at 04:56 AM

[wickedfreak]

Posted: 1/2/06 at 10:04am

Linda Eder in jEKYLL AND HYDE?

[South Fl Marc]

Posted: 1/2/06 at 10:19am

Carol Channing - Hello Dolly
Robert Preston - The Music Man
Updated On: 1/2/06 at 10:19 AM

[ZONEACE]

Posted: 1/2/06 at 10:25am

linda eder is a legendary broadway actress?

[Marquise]

Posted: 1/2/06 at 10:30am

some of you have NO CONCEPT of what makes a TRUE LEGEND.

LINDA EDER?!!!

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 1/2/06 at 10:37am

Stephanie D'Abruzzo Avenue Q! And soon...I LOVE YOU BECAUSE!!!
(15 days!)

[Enjolras77]

Posted: 1/2/06 at 10:40am

I agree, Linda Eder, isn't a Broadway legend, but I would also argue that several of the other people listed aren't either. For instance..I am not ready to put Donna Murphy in the legend status just yet. She is talented and has done some great work...but not yet on the level with Merman, Martin, Orbach, Mostel.

With that said two definite legends:

Mary Martin: South Pacific
John Raitt: Carousel

A few others that are close:

Nathan Lane: The Producers...yes I know he had success in earlier shows (ie. Love! Valour! Compassion! and Forum...but this is the show that vaulted him into mega-stardom)
Judy Holliday: Bells are Ringing
John Cullum: Shenandoah
Robert Goulet: Camelot

[Enjolras77]

Posted: 1/2/06 at 10:43am

A few more:

Julie Andrews and Rex Harrison: My Fair Lady
Ray Bolger: Where's Charley?

[Patronus]

Posted: 1/2/06 at 10:44am

Yeah, I absolutely adore Linda Eder, but she is far from a legendary Broadway actress.

It's interesting that 10 years ago I would have listed Joel Grey in Cabaret. However, after the revival I think Alan Cumming was just as good of an Emcee, so I don't automatically thing that Joel Grey is the only one anymore.

[Horton]

Posted: 1/2/06 at 10:47am

Ben Vereen- Pippin
Joel Gray- Caberet
George Hern- Sweeney & La Cage (even though he did not play Sweeney on Broadway)

[Enjolras77]

Posted: 1/2/06 at 10:50am

Al Jolson: Bombo

[OtherDaryl]

Posted: 1/2/06 at 10:59am

Julie Harris (Member of the Wedding, Belle of Amherst, Last of Mrs. Lincoln)
Jessica Tandy & Hume Cronyn (The Gin Game)
Rex Harrison (My Fair Lady)
Richard Burton (Hamlet)
Donna McKechnie (A Chorus Line)
Elaine Strich (Company)
Ann Reinking (the revival of Chicago)
Eva Le Gallienne (The Royal Family)
Uta Hagen (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf)
John Cullum (On The 20th Century)
Tammy Grimes (Unsinkable Molly Brown)
Barbara Bel Geddes (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof)

[best12bars]

Posted: 1/2/06 at 11:12am

There seems to be a big discrepancy here as to WHEN some of these people became "legends" for their work on Broadway. Scanning through the names people have brought up, I think there are a few that are way off:

Ethel Merman gave her first legendary performance in "Girl Crazy," when she stopped the show with "I Got Rhythm" in 1930.

The show that put Streisand on the map was "I Can Get It For You Wholesale" with her legendary turn as "Miss Marmelstein." This lead to her first TV appearances, record deal, etc. Before Funny Girl cemented her stardom.

Judy Holliday turned in her first legendary Broadway performance in "Born Yesterday," a non-musical comedy, which she later repeated on the screen an won a Best Actress Oscar for (against arguably the stiffest competition in history of both Bette Davis and Anne Baxter in "All About Eve" PLUS Gloria Swanson in "Sunset Blvd."). Long before "Bells Are Ringing."

Mary Martin became a star with her legendary rendition of "My Heart Belongs to Daddy" in "Leave It To Me!" backed up by a handful of chorus boys that included Gene Kelly.

Carol Channing's first "defining role" was that of Lorelei Lee in "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes," long before that of Dolly Levi.

Chita - West Side
Gwen - Can-Can (her first of many Tony Awards)
Liza - Flora, the Red Menace - (still the record holder for the youngest winner of Best Actress in a Musical)
Bernadette Peters actually turned enough heads to become a star (via TV) by appearing in an Off-Broadway musical "Dames At Sea." THIS is actually the show that was the springboard putting her on the map with the public.
Jerry Orbach - another Off-Broadway vehicle: The Fantasticks


Many of these stars have turned in several "legendary" performances but since the initial post was asking about the show that put them on the map and cemented their "legendary" status... I think many of you have to dig back further into history to find it.

[Horton]

Posted: 1/2/06 at 11:12am

Julie Andrews- My Fair Lady

[Enjolras77]

Posted: 1/2/06 at 11:18am

Best12bars...I was thinking more of the performance that made them "legendary" not just "on the map" that is why I made the choices I did.

[Enjolras77]

Posted: 1/2/06 at 11:20am

Here are two others:

Alfred Drake: Oklahoma!
Richard Kiley: Man of LaMancha