Michael McGrath & Beth Leavel starring in SUGAR BABIES workshop - Bound for Broadway?

[Overkill]

Posted: 8/4/12 at 9:47pm

Just saw this listing on BACKSTAGE!

'SUGAR BABIES' Shooting High Productions is casting an AGVA-sanctioned workshop/showcase of the Broadway-bound production of "Sugar Babies," starring Tony Award winners Michael Mcgrath and Beth Leavel. Richard Sabellico, dir.; Denis Jones, choreo.; Nick De Gregorio, music dir.

I adore Sugar Babies, and I've been saying they should retool/revive it for YEARS. Michael and Beth are the perfect combination for such a production, but it's surprising that they aren't going for bigger "names"... still, very refreshing! :)

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 8/4/12 at 9:50pm

Interesting. Yeah, this is the kind of show that needs NAMES to survive. But I'd love to see a production of it!

[bobs3]

Posted: 8/5/12 at 2:11am

I can't see a commercial revival being a success without two stars in the leads. Mickey Rooney & Ann Miller were the reason to the show (also, my parents invested $10,000.00 in the original production and made their investment back many times over).

Robert Morse and Carol Channing took the show on tour and it bombed and closed early on the road.

After the show finished its Broadway run, Rooney and Miller took it on tour where it was a huge success. Both stars later said that "Sugar Babies" turned out to be their retirement fund.


Ann Miller to Hugh Martin as they walked out of the Plaza Hotel and saw a hansom cab in front of the hotel,
”I got laid in one of those once.”

Hugh Martin: “Which one of your husbands was that, Miss Miller?”

Ann Miller: “Husband? You think I’d marry someone who’d screw me in carriage!”


Updated On: 8/6/12 at 02:11 AM

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 8/5/12 at 2:16am

They're gonna need names like Michele Lee & Ron Rifkin if they want this to have any chance of recouping.

[egghumor]

Posted: 8/5/12 at 3:09am

The original production of SUGAR BABIES was an enormous surprise to me. I never dreamed that I would go crazy for it as much as did. I saw it at least fifteen times over the course of the run. More than any other performer I've seen before or since, Ann Miller played every performance as if it were opening night (for how long? 3 years?). The show was so well put together that it fully exploited the strengths of the two great stars, but the show never dipped when neither was on stage because the production numbers, the Soubrette role, and burlesque sketches all worked splendidly.

That being said -- and being big fans of Leavel and McGrath -- I'm sorry I find the whole thing almost impossible envision with Leavel and McGrath -- as well as lots of other skilled people ("name" or non-name)who would not likely make it work. It would really be a tough bit of casting to find two leads who could possibly pull it off. Nathan Lane and Donna McKechnie are the only two that come to mind that I can put forth at this moment...

Fortunately, especially for the lead female, her part of show can be fitted to her particular strengths rather than requiring her to repeat Ann Miller's exact material. Adjustments could be made for the male star as well without deluding the strength of the show.

Anyway, good luck to whomever is trying to bring back SUGAR BABIES but getting this show to work, especially for today's audiences to me is as delicate as mounting a production of STRANGE INTERLUDE.

[egghumor]

Posted: 8/5/12 at 3:13am

or maybe Ann-Margret?



or perhaps Robin Williams?

[Overkill]

Posted: 8/5/12 at 3:17am

While I agree, it can't be said that the pairing isn't ideal! From the clips and bootlegs I've seen of Sugar Babies, Michael and Beth are just perfect for it. Of course, they'd have to retool/rework things for their talents, but that's what the show is about: the stars. That being said, it would be hard to sell these "stars" to the public, for obvious reasons...

Honestly, I think that this would be a better vehicle for Martin Short & Bernadette Peters than I DO, I DO!

[egghumor]

Posted: 8/5/12 at 3:28am

I COMPLETELY AGREE! Martin Short and Bernadette Peters are also wonderful choices.

I suppose my problem with Beth Leavel is that in spite of her fine vocal and dancing skills, I think comedy is her strong suit. Hopefully they would give her some measure burlesque material to showcase her in that way.

[mc1227]

Posted: 8/5/12 at 7:51am

I had read previously that McGrath was attached to a musical about "The Honeymooners"? Martin Short would be the logicial choice for sure..

[wildcat]

Posted: 8/5/12 at 9:56am

I believe Bette Midler was approached to star in this production.

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/5/12 at 9:54pm

This was my first Equity show as a performer, back when it was still Equity instead of under AGVA.

Our director was Rudy Tronto, who directed the NY production (Tony-nominated) and was Mickey Rooney's standby.

Great show, great cast, wonderful memories!

"But that was many years ago ... I doubt if anyone would know."

Updated On: 8/5/12 at 09:54 PM

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/5/12 at 9:57pm

I'll tell you this ...

Love it or not, I have never been in a show that got more laughs than this one. It was surreal. We had to hold so many times during the sketches. Sometimes, you couldn't even hear your next cue over the audience.

[egghumor]

Posted: 8/6/12 at 10:34am

How wonderful b12b that you were part of that very cherished and splendid production! I don't wish to derail this thread, and I have previously stated, I marveled at Ann Miller's consistent performance level every time I saw the show. However, one night when I was dining in a nearby restaurant before attending a different show, a small group of male dancers from SUGAR BABIES were sitting nearby (it was a VERY SMALL place) and bitching continuously about working with Ms. Miller. Was that the general feeling of the company? Was she insufferable?

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/6/12 at 11:29am

egghumor---I should clarify, I didn't do the NY production! But I was in a production of SUGAR BABIES directed by Rudy Tronto, who had helmed the NY production (co-directed with Ernie Flatt).

Our show starred three cast members (and old buddies) from the 1963 Off-Broadway production of "The Boys From Syracuse." Rudy Tronto (dir. of Sugar Babies and Mickey Rooney's standby), Angelo Mango, and Ann Hodges.

Angelo and Rudy had been on Broadway together as well in Irma La Douce. And Ann Hodges had been a June Taylor Dancer on the Jackie Gleason Show. She also played Belle Watlin in the ill-fated musical version of Gone With the Wind in London.

All three were fantastic. "Old school" performers the likes of which we don't see today. I learned so much from watching them work each night and how they "felt" the audience reaction and adjusted their timing. It was magic. They knew how to get laughs and then double them and triple them with those old Vaudeville/Burlesque double-takes and dead-pan (Bea Arthur) pauses.

The sketches are funny already, but if you have real masters in the roles, the sky's the limit.

Updated On: 8/6/12 at 11:29 AM

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/6/12 at 11:41am

egghumor---to answer your question about Ann Miller ...

Rudy used to say that Ann was the consummate performer. She always showed up to rehearsal in full makeup and hair (oh, that hair!).

She never "marked" anything in rehearsal either. He said it was always "100 percent full-out" with her, no matter how many times you went through the number or stopped and started. She was full-out every time.

During the run, after her huge tap number in the first act with the "fellas" (the big train station number featuring "In Louisiana"), Ann would go off stage and there would be an oxygen mask and tank waiting for her. No joke. She would have to sit and regenerate after doing that number and giving it her all.

I always admired her for that dedication and commitment. Pretty incredible.

[egghumor]

Posted: 8/6/12 at 11:52am

b12b, Thanks so much for the additional information! Broadway or not, I'm still impressed that you were part of a top-level production of one my most beloved shows. I've been very fortunate in my life to have seen so many amazing performers, but again, I've never seen anyone quite like Ann Miller for sheer, Olympian energy -- and she was no youngster at the time! She was the gold standard for performance and professionalism. Thanks again for your memories and observations.

[NoName3]

Posted: 8/6/12 at 12:02pm

I had a friend who years ago did Mame with Ann Miller in Atlanta and told a similar story about her using an oxygen tank. She said that at one point in the title number she would tap backwards into the wings and fall backwards into the arms of her assistants, who would slap an oxygen mask on her while the chorus took over. Then they would literally shove her upright and push her onto the stage to finish the number.

Annie was a trouper, my friend used to say.

[PitPro2004]

Posted: 8/6/12 at 9:28pm

Saw this with Mickey and Anne back in the day, one of the first shows I ever saw. Then I did it in summer stock many years later. It just didn't work without names. The comedy fell flat.

Beth's strongest suit is comedy and she still has legs up to here. Remember she was a tap dancing dynamo in Crazy For You. I think she still has some of that pizzazz leftover.

[tazber]

Posted: 9/15/12 at 6:45pm

I just listened to the OBCR for the first time today. I absolutely loved it. It made me really wish I could have seen Rooney and Miller.

I am very excited for this revival!
So it's official

[bobs3]

Posted: 9/15/12 at 9:17pm

Not surprised Ann Miller needed an oxygen tank backstage. She was s heavy smoker who eventually died of lung cancer.

[ggersten]

Posted: 7/5/13 at 8:24pm

Any new news on this?

[Patti LuPone FANatic]

Posted: 7/5/13 at 10:31pm

I didn't know that Beth Leavel knew how to tap. That answers my original question.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 7/5/13 at 11:22pm

I believe Beth made her Broadway debut as an Anytime Annie replacement in the original production of 42nd Street. I saw her in that.