'Poor Little Person' from HENRY, SWEET, HENRY

#1

'Poor Little Person' from HENRY, SWEET, HENRY

Posted: 12/4/12 at 9:01pm

Performed by the late Alice Playten and company (including Baayork Lee and Pia Zadora), choreographed by a young Michael Bennett, pre-Turkey, pre-Lurkey, pre-Company and -Follies, pre-Chorus Line and -Dreamgirls:

http://youtu.be/6lyv67Peo4w

If you are a young (or old) Broadway fan and you have never seen this before, watch it, please...and watch your entire sense of choreography and musical staging change.

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#2

'Poor Little Person' from HENRY, SWEET, HENRY

Posted: 12/4/12 at 9:14pm

I saw it at the Palace.

It was a good number, but please don't exaggerate... cf. Coffee Break, Put on Your Sunday Clothes ...

#3

'Poor Little Person' from HENRY, SWEET, HENRY

Posted: 12/4/12 at 10:09pm

I never exaggerate. I just enthuse.

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#4

'Poor Little Person' from HENRY, SWEET, HENRY

Posted: 12/5/12 at 12:52am

That was great! Alice and her "little pals" were indeed tremendous. I especially like the look of disgust after nobody puts any money into her hat.

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Updated On: 12/5/12 at 12:52 AM

#5

'Poor Little Person' from HENRY, SWEET, HENRY

Posted: 12/5/12 at 2:08am

Love this, but there were other Michael B numbers that didn't get taped that were brilliant: I WONDER WHAT ITS LIKE TO DANCE WITH A BOY, WEARY NEAR TO DYING....

#6

'Poor Little Person' from HENRY, SWEET, HENRY

Posted: 12/5/12 at 4:22am

I was just thinking of this since The World of Henry Orient was on TCM.

It's a great number, and must have been one of the things that got Bennett Promises, Promises, but I do think the musical's a mess. It's covered pretty heavily in Goldman's The Season.

#7

'Poor Little Person' from HENRY, SWEET, HENRY

Posted: 12/5/12 at 4:28am

If any Bennett or Broadway dance fan hasn't seen the youtube video of the Dancers Over 40 Bennett lecture (I know PalJoey has) many of his dancers did, here's the clip talking about the number (the entire thing is quite long, but it's all up there, and worth watching)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6YqWziXM2E

#8

'Poor Little Person' from HENRY, SWEET, HENRY

Posted: 12/5/12 at 4:31am

(and speaking of, I wish we had a video record of Bennett's Grapes of Roth from Promises)

#9

'Poor Little Person' from HENRY, SWEET, HENRY

Posted: 12/5/12 at 5:06am

Part 6-7 of that Bennett special has Carolyn Kirsh talking about how hard it was to learn to dance Tick Tock from Company, replacing Donna and showing her dress from the number and 10-11 has a lot of great Follies stories.

#10

'Poor Little Person' from HENRY, SWEET, HENRY

Posted: 12/5/12 at 5:07am

(though all the dancers are pretty hard on the libretto of Follies)

#11

'Poor Little Person' from HENRY, SWEET, HENRY

Posted: 12/5/12 at 7:23am

Priscilla Lopez is also in the group of girls.

#12

'Poor Little Person' from HENRY, SWEET, HENRY

Posted: 12/5/12 at 9:54am

I always love watching that great number.

#13

'Poor Little Person' from HENRY, SWEET, HENRY

Posted: 12/5/12 at 1:26pm

I don't think Don Amechie's intro to the number would have made me buy a ticket.

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"A coherent existance after so many years of muddle" - Desiree' Armfelt, A Little Night Music "Life keeps happening everyday, Say Yes" - 70, Girls, 70 "Life is what you do while you're waiting to die" - Zorba

#14

'Poor Little Person' from HENRY, SWEET, HENRY

Posted: 12/5/12 at 1:42pm

No? How about Don Ameche's?

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CHURCH DOOR TOUCAN GAY MARKETING PUPPIES MUSICAL THEATER STAPLES PERIOD OIL BITCHY SNARK HOLES

#15

'Poor Little Person' from HENRY, SWEET, HENRY

Posted: 12/5/12 at 1:48pm

No, you must be Don Ameche's sister.

#16

'Poor Little Person' from HENRY, SWEET, HENRY

Posted: 12/5/12 at 1:51pm

Well, perhaps you're right. Perhaps it is a greater honor for me.

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CHURCH DOOR TOUCAN GAY MARKETING PUPPIES MUSICAL THEATER STAPLES PERIOD OIL BITCHY SNARK HOLES

#17

'Poor Little Person' from HENRY, SWEET, HENRY

Posted: 12/6/12 at 8:13am

yeah....nothing special there.

#18

'Poor Little Person' from HENRY, SWEET, HENRY

Posted: 12/6/12 at 10:08am

Bennett gets TWO separate hands in the middle of the number and YOU think that's not special?

Perhaps you don't know what special is...

(AT 3:00 AND 3:45)

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#19

'Poor Little Person' from HENRY, SWEET, HENRY

Posted: 12/6/12 at 10:08am

I really am fascinated by this show. This song, in particular, stands out.

What that choreography shows me is that you can build a showstopper around the abilities of young performers without having to include over the top choreography. This is stylized marching, posing, and formation changes. It's harder than it looks but not so hard that the young performers struggle to keep it together. It builds very well.

Alice Playten taking the lead doesn't hurt, either.

#20

'Poor Little Person' from HENRY, SWEET, HENRY

Posted: 12/6/12 at 10:17am

And later in his life, Bennett would build showstoppers around the abilities of older performers without having to include "over the top" choreography.

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#21

'Poor Little Person' from HENRY, SWEET, HENRY

Posted: 12/7/12 at 1:51am

That's so weird, I just watched this video Monday night. I came across it a few months ago when a friend was looking for clips of Michael Bennett speaking. I found this instead and became instantly obsessed.

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Like a firework unexploded
Wanting life but never knowing how

Updated On: 12/7/12 at 01:51 AM

#22

'Poor Little Person' from HENRY, SWEET, HENRY

Posted: 12/7/12 at 9:29am

I know. It gets stuck in my mind for weeks at a time, the way Turkey Lurkey does.

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#23

'Poor Little Person' from HENRY, SWEET, HENRY

Posted: 12/7/12 at 1:22pm

PalJoey, if you think that's bad, a friend of mine put "Turkey Lurkey" from the Italian cast album on a mix tape for me and I had that in my head for MONTHS!

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"A coherent existance after so many years of muddle" - Desiree' Armfelt, A Little Night Music "Life keeps happening everyday, Say Yes" - 70, Girls, 70 "Life is what you do while you're waiting to die" - Zorba

#24

'Poor Little Person' from HENRY, SWEET, HENRY

Posted: 12/7/12 at 6:40pm

I know. It gets stuck in my mind for weeks at a time, the way Turkey Lurkey does.

That might be because the song consists of a couple of short choruses, repeated ad infinitum, like a TV commercial.

This is not a criticism. The song is dramatizing children (even including one very crafty child in the Playten character). They SHOULDN'T sing "Too Many Mornings" or "The Miller's Son." But the song's simplicity is why it gets stuck in our heads, I think.

#25

'Poor Little Person' from HENRY, SWEET, HENRY

Posted: 12/7/12 at 8:54pm

I also get "Too Many Mornings" and "The Miller's Son" stuck in my head. But maybe that's just me.

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