She was robbed, too!

[Kringas]

Posted: 6/21/06 at 2:16pm

Is anyone else upset that Mary Martin beat Ethel Merman for the Tony Award? I sure am!

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 6/21/06 at 2:17pm

Being that a very small percentage of us (If ANY) actually saw the original productions of GYPSY and THE SOUND OR MUSIC, I don't know how much of a legitimate consensus you'll gather.

[best12bars]

Posted: 6/21/06 at 3:05pm

Makes me kinda wish we had a group of "elders" (older than ME even!) who could and would discuss it. A LOT.

Can you imagine the "thread talk?"

....

Can you believe Sally Ann Howes is taking over for Julie Andrews in "My Fair Lady?" I hear she's great! I remember seeing her in "Anna Karenina" when she was 18 with Vivien Leigh. She was really good in that movie.

....

I just heard that Lanie Kazan got fired today out of town in "Seesaw" and they put in her BEST FRIEND to replace her--Michele Lee!

....

Which opening night was better: Oklahoma? or Carousel?



Ah, well... I can dream, can't I?

[neddyfrank2]

Posted: 6/21/06 at 3:07pm

Munk- You think Mary deserved it?

[best12bars]

Posted: 6/21/06 at 3:12pm

Well, I wasn't there... but I'll bet it went something like this.

Mary Martin was pretty much "America's sweetheart" in the 1950s. She was playing an inspirational character in a warmhearted R&H show.

Ethel Merman was never anybody's "sweeheart" although she had legendary status as a Broadway leading lady. She played a controversial role in a controversial show.

Did I mention it was the 1950s?

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 6/21/06 at 4:17pm

I have no idea!

I have only heard them on their respective recordings, and I saw one short clip of Ethel Merman in GYPSY without sound....so...I have no idea.

Maria Rainer is a role that allows for lots of nuance and shading and has an incredible task.

Rose is one of the most demanding theatrical roles ever written.

I have no idea what their original reviews were like, but it's no surprise that Martin won the Tony, and I only wish I knew which one I thought deserved it.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 6/21/06 at 4:32pm

You're right about Ethel being nobody's sweetheart. Apparently, she was married for just a matter of days to Ernest Borgnine. He was asked why they split up and I have heard he said he didn't realize he was going to spend his life with someone who began each day with (say this at 240 db) "HEY ERNIE!!!!!!"

[Gothampc]

Posted: 6/21/06 at 4:42pm

No, but I was bothered when The Music Man beat out West Side Story. How can a con man who falls in love and gives up his con game beat out dancing rival gangs? West Side Story had a 3 hanky death and a lesson to be learned at the end. The Music Man had a freaky kid with a lisp and a bumbling mayor.

[buffyactsing]

Posted: 6/21/06 at 5:01pm

Oh Best12Bars, I experience that. My step-father is 82 and he likes to talk about how he saw the original Broadway cast of Anything Goes, ect.

Because curiosity was peaked I asked him about it. He said he hadn't seen either of those shows despite being an avid theatergoer, but he suspects it was because Mary Martin was gentler, and had a gentler voice that she won.

Maybe something along the lines of what you were saying Best12Bars?

[buffyactsing]

Posted: 6/21/06 at 5:03pm

Because the Music Man was a good ole fashioned musical while West Side Story seemed like a oddity in comparison.

I love both, but yes, I agree WSS is probably the stronger piece.

[Marguerite Chauvelin]

Posted: 6/21/06 at 6:07pm

The Tony voters- screwing up wins for 60 years.

I'm just kidding, I really don't know who should have won but I must say both Mary Martin and the Merm were amazing in all of their respective roles. They're two different "types" of actresses.

[kissmycookie]

Posted: 6/21/06 at 6:10pm

Are you miffed that 'Nine' beat 'Dreamgirls' in 1982, Kringas? I betcha you are!

[neddyfrank2]

Posted: 6/21/06 at 6:10pm

If the Music Man and West Side Story opened in two different seasons they both would have won Best Musical.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 6/21/06 at 6:12pm

Mary Martin did "favors" for every single Tony voter.

I should know. I was her assistant for 48 years. We were known as "social secretaries" back then. Social indeed.

Updated On: 6/21/06 at 06:12 PM

[sondheimboy2]

Posted: 6/21/06 at 6:25pm

I believe that Ethel's only PUBLIC comment about it was something like, "How ya gonna beat out a nun?"

Dear Rathnait62,

"...I was her assistant for 48 years..."

SPILL!!!! SPILL YOUR GUTS NOW!!!!!

Or at least go on the lecture circuit...

[best12bars]

Posted: 6/21/06 at 8:01pm

God, Rathy, you kill me.

...And any of you who believe her, I have a bridge I'd like to sell you that goes to Brooklyn!



I think we're talking about visionary shows here. Edgy wasn't the preferred trend on Broadway in the '50s for musicals. For straight plays, it was a whole different matter. Gypsy was/is one of the best (if not THE best) written musicals ever. But it was about strippers, at least on a basic "surface" level. It was about a dragon-lady of a mother who browbeat her kids into being famous. The Sound of Music is a wonderful show, and I'm not taking away from how special it is. It had so many classic songs in it, and an inspiring story that was "family friendly"... with a leading lady who OWNED the heart of Broadway at that time.

Don't forget that the Sound of Music TIED for Best Musical with "Fiorello!" which also took home the Pulizer Prize that year. Which means that Gypsy came in third, at best.

Talk about a tough year!

The Best Actress nominees were:
Ethel Merman in Gypsy
Mary Martin in The Sound of Music (winner)
Carol Burnett in Once Upon a Mattress
Dolores Gray in Destry Rides Again
Eileen Herlie in Take Me Along

All in the same year.

And on the Play side, it was almost WORSE:

Anne Bancroft in The Miracle Worker (winner)
Margaret Leighton in Much Ado...
Claudia McNeil in A Raisin in the Sun
Geraldine Page in Sweet Bird of Youth
Maureen Stapleton in Toys in the Attic
Irene Worth in Toys in the Attic

Can you imagine a season with an embarassment of riches like that now??? I doubt very much we'll ever see the likes of it again. That was ONE SEASON (1959-1960).

And to get The Music Man and West Side Story in the same year is also hard to imagine. But remember West Side story was not universally praised. It got VERY mixed reviews, and people walked out on it every single performance. Mary Rodgers (Richard's daughter and Adam Guettel's mom, who wrote Once Upon a Mattress) openly admits that when she first heard the score for West Side before it opened she thought it was terrible. She didn't "get" it. Neither did MANY other people who aren't as honest as Mary. To say it was ahead of its time would be an understatement.

EDIT: And buffyactsing---Treasure your grandfather. He is "living history." I wish I could ask my grandparents so many questions now about "what it was like."

My own father saw many legendary opening nights on Broadway. His father (my grandpa) was an executive at Warner Bros. and consequently a "first nighter" with his family. My dad was at the opening nights of Oklahoma, Carousel, A Streetcar Named Desire, and many others. I try to ask my dad "what was it like" as often as possible.

Updated On: 6/21/06 at 08:01 PM

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 6/21/06 at 8:13pm

Best12, it reminds me of a conversation I had with my grandmother when I was a child. I remember her telling me they had front row seats for The Miracle Water, and getting splashed with water when Helen and Anne were fighting on stage (or something along those lines). Now that she's gone, how I wished I would have asked her more questions. I inherited her show album collection though.

[best12bars]

Posted: 6/21/06 at 8:23pm

Dottie, that's so great! That's live theatre for you. What a treasured memory.

I had a dear friend (sadly departed now) who became a fairly well known actress in the 1940s at Warner Bros.

Her mother took her to see Eva Le Gallienne as "Peter Pan" in the late 1920s on Broadway when she was a child. Her mother waited weeks and got them "special seats" (unbeknownst to my friend) in the dead center of the front row of the balcony... because at the end of the show "Peter" flew out over the audience and right up to that spot in balcony... and touched my friend's small hand on the railing before swinging back down to the stage.

She said that was the moment she knew she was going to be an actress.

Updated On: 6/21/06 at 08:23 PM

[Jon]

Posted: 6/21/06 at 9:07pm

WSS truly was ahead of it's time. The movie was what, like six years after the stage version? By that time, things had already changed a lot, as evidenced by the boatload of Oscards the movie received.

THE MUSIC MAN was/is a show with some truly well-written and arranged songs, some good dance numbers, and a really, really, weak book. That's not surprising, considering Meredith Willson's background was as a bvand leader and musical arranger.