My Sister Eileen 1980's?

[beyondblessed]

Posted: 4/21/07 at 4:21pm

Hey peeps.

So hear is the deal, one of my profs at school tells me that he was apart of a color blind production of My Sister Eileen during the 1980s that went on for a few months at the Schubert Theater. I searched originally because I thought it would be so cool to see my teacher's name on ibdb and try to find some production photos. But my search had lead me to nothingness. Just the 1940's productions with names that I don't recognize.


Does anyone know if the 1980's production existed? If not that would make my prof a liar and that would really break my heart.

What has me questioning my prof's honesty is that he says that My Sister Eileen was later turned into a musical called On the Town At first I thought he made a mistake and intended to say Wonderful Town but I responded "One the Town, about the war and sailors?" He said, " Right, thats it".

So this has me so confused because people on campus have so much respect for this professor and I really don't want this to be a lie.

C'mon BrodyFosse123 and others, I just know you all gotta know this one.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 4/21/07 at 4:33pm

Sorry, but I think your professor is very confused .... or something. The only MY SISTER EILEEN that ever played Broadway was the original non-musical play version that starred Shirley Booth (and it's never been revived). The stories were adapted into the musical WONDERFUL TOWN with Roz Russell and then revived a couple of seasons ago with Donna Murphy. There was a non-musical movie version from the 40s that also starred Russell, along with a later MUSICAL movie version in the 50s (which is a totally different show with a completely different score than the one Bernstein did for WONDERFUL TOWN) with Janet Leigh, Betty Garrett and Bob Fosse. That version has never been on Broadway.

Now, perhaps that movie musical version was adapted for stage at some point and toured, but it never hit New York if it did.

And as far as ON THE TOWN is concerned, that was originally staged in 1944, was briefly revived in 1971 and the only other revival was in 1998 -- no productions in the 1980s.

Updated On: 4/22/07 at 04:33 PM

[Gypsy9]

Posted: 4/21/07 at 4:35pm

Sorry to have to bad mouth your professor but he seems to have his facts mixed up. First, A CHORUS LINE was playing at the Shubert Theatre throughout the 1980's so MY SISTER EILEEN couldn't have played there. Second, MY SISTER EILEEN became WONDERFUL TOWN, not ON THE TOWN, although Leonard Bernstein did write the scores to both of those shows.

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 4/21/07 at 4:56pm

Yeah, he has no clue.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 4/21/07 at 5:17pm

Didn't City Opera do a version of WONDERFUL TWON in the 80's?

[D2]

Posted: 4/21/07 at 5:21pm

City Opera did WONDERFUL TOWN in 1994. It wasn't.

[Piercemn]

Posted: 4/22/07 at 12:46am

Either My Sister Eileen or Wonderful Town may have been a part of the City Center Theatre, but I think they were pretty much defunct in the 80s. I know there was a theater in Milwaukee called the Melody Top and they had Wonderful Town with Sheila MacRae, because a friend of mine was her dresser and hated her.

Maybe it was an off or off-off Broadway revival?

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 4/22/07 at 7:47am

And IIRC, ON THE TOWN is based on a ballet. Maybe your prof dances in his spare time?

[Gypsy9]

Posted: 4/22/07 at 12:38pm

I saw WONDERFUL TOWN as performed by the New York City Opera in the 1990's and it was a lifeless show, despite its excellent score. City Opera just can't get that Broadway excitement. An exception was their production of THE MOST HAPPY FELLA which was excellent.

[AC126748]

Posted: 4/22/07 at 12:40pm

Who was in the City Opera Wonderful Town?

[Gypsy9]

Posted: 4/22/07 at 12:43pm

I can't remember who played Ruth and Eileen, although the actress playing Eileen was good. Sorry.

[AC126748]

Posted: 4/22/07 at 12:45pm

No problem; I just Googled it. It was Kay McClelland as Ruth and Crista Moore as Eileen.

[Gypsy9]

Posted: 4/22/07 at 12:51pm

You have joggled my memory. Crista Moore(Eileen) played Louise/Gypsy Rose Lee in the Tyne Daly production of GYPSY. She was wonderful in that role, as was Tyne Daly.

[Dark_Angel]

Posted: 4/22/07 at 4:49pm

OT: Crista Moore is one of the best if not the best Louise/Gypsy I have ever seen. She just had the whole package!