Michael Bennett salute now available online (video)

I was there. It was three hours long and the audience could have had them go on for three more.

Watch as much as you can, especially the Kelly Bishop and Alice Playten segments--and the one with Carolyn Kirsch, who was the first to step into Donna's shoes as Cassie. She's lovely.

---

I have already viewed all of the videos, and will keep going back to view them over and over again, picking up new nuggets of information each time. I enjoyed it all; A CHORUS LINE stories, of course, and especially the stories of FOLLIES, since I had just finished reading EVERYTHING WAS POSSIBLE, and I am a big Dorothy Collins fan, so it was nice to hear her spoken of with such warmth.

I wasn't. I already knew that, as Sappington had short hair and wore it that way in the show. Another misconception is that it's Julane Stites leading the dance as Miss Della Hoya in the Ed Sullivan clip and it's actually Lada Edmund (of "Hullabaloo").

Updated On: 6/4/10 at 12:39 AM

Thanks for posting! I've always thought a Michael Bennett Bio-Movie could be amazing!! Think of it: love, sex, drugs, disease, and amazing musical numbers! In the hands of the right director...magic.

The dancers in that Hullabaloo sequence are really fantastic. In addition to "Mike Bennett" and Donna McKechnie, there's Suzanne Charney, who was the lead dancer with the long dark ponytail for Rich Man's Frug in the OBC and movie "Sweet Charity." Patrick Adiarte, who was Prince Chulalongkorn in the film of "The King and I" as well as a principle (with a terrific dance solo) in the movie "Flower Drum Song." He was also a semi-regular on the TV show M*A*S*H.

The tall leggy black girl is Barbara Alston, who was the original lead singer of the '60s girl group The Crystals, and she was indeed a replacement Turkey Lurkey girl in Promises, Promises, along with Lada Edmund, Jr., who is featured here as well. Both of them are in the Ed Sullivan Turkey Lurkey number, as Miss Polanski and Miss Della Hoya, respectively.

And of course the Hullabaloo choreographer was David Winters who was Baby John in the OBC of West Side Story and played Arab in the film version.

Heres' the Hullabaloo clip (a little easier to see than in the Bennett tribute) ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sEArYFZAco

---

Updated On: 6/6/10 at 08:39 AM