Madeline Kahn in Dolly

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 12/27/06 at 1:05pm

Did she actually do "Hello, Dolly" or was that one of those where I heard her name and Dolly in two seperate sentences and put them together? If she did, did anyone see it? Was she any good? My fear would be vocally she wouldn't fit, although timing wise she'd have been a riot.

[keen on kean]

Posted: 12/27/06 at 1:18pm

By my recollection, the only Kahn show was On the Twentieth Century, and she was eventually "let go" because she could not/ did not want to do eight shows a week. I love her but she was happier in movies.

(I am thinking of musical shows...) Updated On: 12/27/06 at 01:18 PM

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 12/27/06 at 1:21pm

I know it wasn't on Broadway, and aside from "On the Twentieth" she also did "Two by Two" and a number of Off-Broadway revivals in the 70s.

[Doogie]

Posted: 12/27/06 at 1:23pm

she did a Stock tour of it.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 12/27/06 at 1:24pm

Madeline's Broadway credits were (with most recent at the top):

The Sisters Rosensweig
Born Yesterday (Revival)
On the Twentieth Century
Boom Boom Room
Two By Two
Leonard Sillman's New Faces of 1968

I believe she played Dolly Levi in a regional production, though no dates can be located, etc.

[Danielm]

Posted: 12/27/06 at 1:24pm

She was also in New Faces of 1968, The Sisters Rosensweig and Born Yesterday but I'm pretty sure that, wonderful as she would have been, she never did Dolly.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 12/27/06 at 1:24pm

I did see her in Dolly. Although it was a delight to see her perform, the production was not very good and it was not a great role for her. She looked fabulous, however.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 12/27/06 at 1:36pm

Don't forget Promenade, though she's not on the cast recording. It's a weird little musical.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 12/27/06 at 1:36pm

Don't forget Promenade, though she's not on the cast recording. It's a weird little musical.

[nobodyhome]

Posted: 12/27/06 at 6:44pm

She did a stock tour of Hello, Dolly! that I believe was directed by Lee Roy Reams. My memory is that in an interview either she or Reams said that the production had been fairly intimate and had tried to return to the feel of the Wilder play.

There's a photo on the page linked below of her playing it at the St. Louis MUNY in 1992. I don't know if this was the same tour that Reams directed. If so, it surely wasn't intimate at the MUNY.

http://www.muny.org/showarchives.html#H

In addition to the stage credits already mentioned, she was in at least one Julius Monk revue and she played Cunegonde in the 1968 New York Philharmonic concert performance of Candide, in honor of Leonard Bernstein's 50th birthday. She didn't really have the high E-flat, but other than that she sang it very well and was very funny, as you might expect. Alan Arkin was Pangloss/Martin/Voltaire, David Watson was Candide, and Irra Petinna was the Old Lady. The concert used an adapted version of the Hellman book and was one of the most complete presentations of the score, including stuff that has rarely been heard since.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 12/28/06 at 1:42am

I can't imagine Kahn in the role of Cunegonde, that's a very interesting piece of information. While I think she was an incredibly talented actress, I am not a big fan of her singing voice.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 12/28/06 at 2:40am

Nobody Home-
Are you positive that's Kahn? Because it looks NOTHING like her to me at least.

[nobodyhome]

Posted: 12/28/06 at 3:33am

husk_charmer, you're right. I didn't think it looked like her, either, and when I checked again, I saw that it was from the 1997 MUNY production of the show, and Kahn did it there in 1992.

I think she sounded quite good as Cunegonde, ray, except for the E-flat, which she kind of screamed, not the only Cunegonde to have done that.

I think she had a very good instrument, though it seems to have become unsteady and a little pallid-sounding fairly young. As you probably know, she was pretty neurotic and that may have affected her confidence about singing and caused her to have held back. But she was still in her 20s when she did the Candide.

Have you heard the Two by Two cast recording? I think she sounds good on that, up to her high C.

[Jazzysuite82]

Posted: 12/28/06 at 9:58am

I love her voice. I really enjoy it in Two by Two. The interesting thing is that her voice naturally goes there. With the exception of a few voice lessons early in her career, she really didn't train her voice. She was always and actress first. I wonder what she would have sounded like had she trained extensively. I feel she's much like what Kristin is only for another generation.