Legs Diamond — Page 2

I always liked Frank Rich's observation "the evening's most persistent source of drama is Mr. Allen's unceasing struggle to figure out what to do with his hands."

He also noted, "If there's any mystery to 'Legs Diamond,' it is the one attending Mr. Allen... Here is a performer with a single expression - a pop-eyed, I-dare-you-not-to-love-me grin - and a harsh singing voice as taut as his face. He delivers jokes as if he were a 'Hollywood Squares' second banana struggling with his cue cards, and his dancing amounts to a few Rockette-style high kicks and a lot of wiggling at the joints. As for Mr. Allen's songs, they are so derivative they make Andrew Lloyd Webber's scores sound idiosyncratic."

In The New Yorker, Mimi Kramer offered the delightful line, "Watching Mr. Allen, you realize with a kind of horrified fascination that you are attending a musical built around the only man in America less charismatic than George Bush."

I admit that I didn't much care for him - to me, he typified the "plastic" element of the 70s that turned me off. But he certainly did have a lot of energy and a lot of admirers.

I guess there's a slimmer chance that anybody saw him in either Soon in 1971, or his one-man show at the Biltmore in 1979?

Just reading about his career on WikiPedia - I wasn't around for it, so I'm just wondering...due to The Boy From Oz I always kinda assumed that he was a big star - but I guess he wasn't, was he? How come The Boy From Oz was such a hit?

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PalJoey and I seem to be on the same wave length this week- I have to disagree that he wasn't a big star-

No he wasn't a huge recording star, but he had NO problems live- in fact if I remember correctly at one point he held the record for selling out Radio City Music Hall, and he broke his own record once or twice I believe.

He would have been a bigger recording star but A&M records didn't put a lot of muscle into promoting his albums. In fact I remember seeing a bio on him and someone from A&M stating that without naming names, there used to be jokes made on a regular basis about Peter's sexuality during A&M board meetings- a real shame because I actually love his music! (When Peter did his live show he would stop half way through and talk to the audience, and say, "I know what you are all wondering right now, is he or isn't he? Well, you can stop guessing, I am Australian")

Yes he was over the top, and flamboyant, but he was a helluva performer, and despite the failure of Legs, if his life had not been cut tragically short, I think he would have gone on to bigger success. He died in the early 90's not to far removed from the AIDS crisis taking center stage and all the homophobic ridicule that went with it.

Today there are tons of performers who are open about thier sexuality and still get work- yes there are still idiots who want to make an issue out of it, but they work and many get mainstream work.

I just think it is a shame that someone who had so much talent to give and wrote some pretty great music doesn't get his just due still today...

How come The Boy From Oz was such a hit?

Peter Allen was (and is) an icon in Australia. THE BOY FROM OZ, the musical was an enormous hit in Australia (where the musical was first staged) for all the obvious reasons. Hugh Jackman, a very popular Australian actor very well-known worldwide for his movie/film work AND with an extensive musical theater background expressed countless times that he would LOVE to appear on Broadway. Producers found the perfect vehicle for him in THE BOY FROM OZ.

Now... the musical was re-written to suit the American palatte of Peter Allen (such as his connections to Judy Garland and Liza Minnelli), so changes were indeed made to the musical to suit the American knowledge of him, etc.

At the time, many questioned why a musical about Peter Allen was ever created for the Broadway stage. Hugh Jackman validated this to many people and the buzz about his performance is what made the show the hit it became on Broadway. The interactive element of the musical's staging is what made the show an experience and many went back to see the show several times (including ever-present diehard fan Barbara Cook). It really had NOTHING to do with his singing or dancing or the book of the show -- it was all about the way he interacted with the audience night-after-night. Each night was fresh. His charismatic personality was something that needed to be seen 'live'.

NOTE: I personally was fortunate to see the show about 6 times. On one memorable night, during the opening Reno Sweeney Act 2 opener, he brought up on stage Elvis Costello (who was in the audience with his mother) after much prompting from Hugh and the audience. Costello joined the onstage band and did a 15-minute impromptu jam session with Hugh (as Peter Allen), the onstage band and the onstage backup girl trio. Things like THAT are what made THE BOY FROM OZ the much-talked-about event of that Broadway season.