The Ladies Who Sing With The Band

[Gothampc]

Posted: 1/22/14 at 8:51pm

Has there ever been a Broadway musical about a woman who sings with the band? Back in the 40s it was very popular to have a woman get up and sing a couple of numbers. It seems like it could be an interesting story ala Rosemary Clooney or something like the Liza Minnelli character in New York, New York.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 1/22/14 at 11:27pm

Alfred Uhry and Robert Waldman followed up The Robber Bridegroom with a musical called Swing! It opened at teh Kennedy Center and starred Debbie Shapiro (not yet called Debbie Gravitte) as the band singer.

It had some great songs but it closed.

A year later, a revised version opened off Broadway at the Harold Clurman Theatre. This one starred Ann Morrison, straight from Merrily, and it was directed and choreographed by Robert LuPone, straight from Chorus Line.

It closed, and the musical has never been heard of again.

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 1/23/14 at 12:51am

If you've a tropical torso
And your digestion is grand
You may do finer than Ginny or Dinah,
Or Dottie or Janet or Helen or Ina
They don't need to know from a major or minor
The Ladies Who Sing With the Band

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 1/23/14 at 7:28am

^whizzer, thank you for that

And I've always sung "Janey," not "Ginny." Funny how our ears hear.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 1/23/14 at 7:58am

I think it refers to Ginny Simms

http://youtu.be/iG3WWhNqwaw

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 1/23/14 at 8:04am

I bet you are correct, PJ!

[best12bars]

Posted: 1/23/14 at 8:07am

Just can't help this tangent ... because they're so incredibly talented ...

The OBC of Ain't Misbehavin' singing

The Ladies Who Sing With the Band/Off-Time

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 1/23/14 at 2:21pm

Happily staying with Bestie's tangent, that cast in that show was one of the all-time great evenings of theater in the 70's-- thanks for any excuse to remind us of them all!

[madbrian]

Posted: 1/23/14 at 3:00pm

Though I never saw it, would Over Here be a good example of such a show? It featured a twenty year-old John Travolta.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 1/23/14 at 5:17pm

And here are three of the original "ladies who sang with the band":


Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and Pearl Bailey

[sondheimboy2]

Posted: 1/23/14 at 8:34pm

In the revisal of "On A Clear Day", didn't they make Daisy Gamble a big band singer?

[PalJoey]

Posted: 1/23/14 at 9:59pm

They tried to.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 1/23/14 at 10:10pm

A different take on a lady who sings with the band.
Link