The Miller's Son on Tonight Show - Question- Page 2

[D2]

Posted: 3/12/14 at 2:12pm

Oh, Robbie, I do love you so!

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 3/12/14 at 2:18pm

Me too! You funny lady!

I dont think they had numbers from 1975 either! No Wiz, Angie as Rose or Cullum's Meditation!

[StageStruckLad]

Posted: 3/12/14 at 2:29pm

Wow, how wonderful to see these. Can you imagine a song like The Miller's Son being done on the Tonight Show (or any of the late night shows) nowadays?

[PalJoey]

Posted: 3/12/14 at 2:34pm

Was anyone at the Standing Ovations when Ms. Bartlett sang Miller's Son sounding almost exactly the same as she did in 73? Magnificent.

YES! I hyperventilated for hours after.

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 3/12/14 at 2:35pm

I remember handing you a brown paper bag saying, 'Put this over your head.'

[madbrian]

Posted: 3/12/14 at 2:36pm

"Can you imagine a song like The Miller's Son being done on the Tonight Show (or any of the late night shows) nowadays?"

Fallon had LuPone on his show, maybe a couple of years ago, and he was practically fawning over her. I think she sang Everything's Coming Up Roses. Total fanboy. So, perhaps there's a glimmer of hope now that the Tonight Show is back in NYC.

[nobodyhome]

Posted: 3/12/14 at 5:00pm

This was from May 10, 1973, both clips. At least in the early Burbank years, I believe the show would come back to New York for a week or two each year. I'd be pretty sure this was during one of those times, although I can't find definite confirmation.

EDIT: Given how few understudies Prince had on this show, it would have been a disaster to fly both Johns and Bartlett out to California in mid-week.

Updated On: 3/12/14 at 05:00 PM

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 3/12/14 at 5:08pm

Love the Glynis clip! So glad these were recently posted (if the poster is out there somewhere reading this--Thank You.) It's kinda hysterical to me that Glynnis would wear *that* dress when she had a stunning costume for the scene... But as mentioned, they were fashionable outfits at the time.

It makes a lot of sense if this was during a New York week, and kudos to whoever mentioned the brassier orchestrations (even Clown--listen to the ending note...)

As for the Tonight Show--they would have some performances from touring shows in recent years--but stuff like Wicked after it was well known. Of course Letterman does too, every so often usually around the Tonys, as has Fallon before, so hopefully he will do more.

"Wait...two years without featuring performances from major Sondheim shows????

Who produced those Tonys? After Eight?"

HA! And the same goes for 1971 and Company! Which is a shame because 1970 had great, extended performances from Applause, Coco (very extended) etc. I think at least one of those missing years (maybe 1971) they did brief performances from past shows for some reason instead. But as a Sondheim fan it's pretty annoying that the Tonys missed all three of those major shows. (Was it the Follies year they did have SOME show performances, including some that weren't nominated?)

[PalJoey]

Posted: 3/12/14 at 5:26pm

I believe the show would come back to New York for a week or two each year.

That's right! I forgot they did that.

Someone told me that those clips are sequential. Send in the Clowns came first and segued right into The Miller's Son. And Sondheim, apparently, was there.

Updated On: 3/13/14 at 05:26 PM

[After Eight]

Posted: 3/13/14 at 7:49am

"But as a Sondheim fan it's pretty annoying that the Tonys missed all three of those major shows. "

Uh, what idolaters like you don't seem to understand is, a) not many people think like you -- maybe about twenty people in the unverse, actually --- and b) the producers of the Tony Awards actually wanted people to WATCH the show, not turn off their television sets in droves. You see, in those days, the powerful Sondheim cheerleading machine hadn't yet gotten into full gear Thank the lord!

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 3/13/14 at 7:52am

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 3/13/14 at 10:29am

^ HA! That's like a promo shot from a very high concept production of THE CRUCIBLE!

'I saw Goody Eight dance with the devil!'

[Bdwyblues]

Posted: 3/13/14 at 12:34pm

I saw D. Jamin Bartlett play Desiree in a production of NIGHT MUSIC in Portsmouth, NH at the old Theatre by the Sea. Her daughter played Fredrika and the quintet was very young and they were dressed as trees. It was very strange. If I remember correctly, Jeff McCarthy was Count Carl Magnus. This would have been in the 1980's.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 3/13/14 at 1:01pm

After8, not addressing your usual opinion but since you get so puffy about people mis-reading your own posts:

"Uh, what idolaters like you don't seem to understand is, a) not many people think like you -- maybe about twenty people in the unverse, actually --- "

Where did I say or even imply that? I said I found it too bad that they missed those years. I wouldn't assume to speak for the whole universe, though it's good they apparently have you to stand up for them.

[nobodyhome]

Posted: 3/15/14 at 1:00am

After Eight wrote, "Uh, what idolaters like you don't seem to understand is, a) not many people think like you -- maybe about twenty people in the unverse, actually --- and b) the producers of the Tony Awards actually wanted people to WATCH the show, not turn off their television sets in droves."

Yes, that must have been why in 1972, rather than having Dorothy Collins sing "Losing My Mind," or Alexis Smith sing "Could I Leave You" or Ethel Shutta doing "Broadway Baby" or something like that, Alexander Cohen had this crowd-pleasing nine-minute sequence from Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death, culminating in Minnie Gentry putting a curse on the audience.

http://www.bluegobo.com/production/2879701/video/10386

Funny you should have written, "the producers of the Tony Awards actually wanted people to WATCH the show, not turn off their television sets in droves," because I remember watching this in 1972 and thinking, "I find this kind of interesting and powerful, but I bet an awful lot of people across the country are switching to another channel."

Updated On: 3/15/14 at 01:00 AM

[best12bars]

Posted: 3/15/14 at 8:48am

It makes sense that they would have taped those numbers in NY and not Los Angeles. It's one thing to fly Bartlett out to the coast for a quick appearance with an understudy taking over for a performance, but I can't imagine they would have done that with both her and Glynis Johns. (Besides, Johns was starred, above the title, so people could have asked for their money back if she didn't go on.)

I really liked seeing the anger and humiliation in Glynis Johns' interpretation of "Clowns." And I remember Sondheim talking about that in an interview. Desiree has just been jilted. Her elaborate plan didn't work. Fredrik has no intention of leaving his wife for her. To suddenly get all introspective and melancholy at that precise point would be too self aware, although I think that interpretation of the song works well out of context. Johns was singing it in context after just receiving the "bad news." In fact, the song is split around the dialogue of him telling her he won't do it and then walking out toward the end, leaving her "in the dust" for the final moments ... and that's when she does let her guard down and tears well in her eyes.

To see Johns perform it that way on the Tonight Show is wonderful.

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 3/15/14 at 8:51pm

Phenomenal to see this footage like new all over again. A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC was my second Broadway show ever, New year's Eve of 1973.

From that rear balcony seat I can remember being captivated by the music and the gorgeous Boris Aronson sets but finding Act I very tough to latch on to emotionally. Then came A WEEKEND IN THE COUNTRY and suddenly the stage was full of magic as that chateau facade materialized out of thin air, the characters at last came to life, and I couldn't wait for Act II to start. Then late in Act II the show took flight in the quietest way possible: an oboe played those simple triads and Glynis Johns in her ravishing red dress sitting on that canopied bed began the first notes of SEND IN THE CLOWNS. Such a perfect beautiful moment, so honest and clear that the tears were streaming down my face by the end of the scene.We had never heard that soon-to-be-famous melody before but the shock of such innate beauty was immediate. The rest of the show was bliss. I remember loving the THE MILLER'S SON (but was puzzled by such a great song going to such a minor character). And to this day, A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC remains my favorite musical of all time.

Thanks for bringing those performances back to life so beautifully.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 3/15/14 at 9:24pm

I've been fascinated with Aronson's designs for ALNM for ages (as I am with most of his designs.) I remember hearing that out of town the trees and the use of a similar to plexi-glass material for them caused a lot of noise--does anyone remember this? (And Nobodyhome, thank you for bringing up what was featured that year--it's fascinating to see, and I am completely bewildered as to why it was chosen to be spotlighted.)

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 3/16/14 at 1:13pm

It's true. The design featured birch trunks painted on muslin, glued to giant lexan panels that slid across stage to create infinite configurations. Apparently the steel traveler tracks were terribly noisy in Boston and were replaced with wooden tracks and teflon carriers by the time the show got to New York. Of course, the set changes in the show I saw 8 or 9 months into the New York run were absolutely seamless (and silent). The shimmery reflection of stage lights from the balcony rail sparkling on those lexan panels gave a magic contemporaneity to the otherwise traditional design -- rather than distracting, you were always aware that we were still in modern times (1973!!) watching a show ABOUT the turn of the last century. And THAT was the state of the art.

Updated On: 3/16/14 at 01:13 PM

Posted: 3/16/14 at 3:07pm

A few more that 20 people were interested in Follies- it was on the cover of Time, after all.

[nobodyhome]

Posted: 3/16/14 at 7:42pm

There was an article on D'Jamin Bartlett in an early issue of The Sondheim Review. She talked about playing Desiree, and said that she didn't fully appreciate Glynis Johns's performance until she played the role. She realized that Desiree is not necessarily a terribly likable character. She's a woman having an affair with another woman's husband while trying to steal the husband of yet another woman. So it's important for the actress to make the audience like a character who might be considered "not very nice."

She also talked about not having felt terribly welcome in the company when she took over.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 3/16/14 at 10:25pm

I remember hearing that out of town the trees and the use of a similar to plexi-glass material for them caused a lot of noise--does anyone remember this?


UGH! I hate that stupid story. It happened in Boston and they fixed it. It was a tech problem that was fixed after the first preview. Now people repeat on discussions like this as if it were the most important thing about those sets.

I hate that this story lives on the Internet as if it were true. I hate that people think that Boris Aronson and Hal Prince were rank amateurs who would ever allow something as stupid as a set making distracting noise during a show as delicate as A Little Night Music.

As I have posted many times before, I saw the show FIVE times on Broadway and I never heard the panels move.

The only thing I ever heard was the collective gasp from the audience at the sheer beauty of the physical production.

The panels did NOT make noise.

Updated On: 3/16/14 at 10:25 PM

[justoldbill]

Posted: 3/17/14 at 1:19am

Four times on Broadway for me. I first saw it the night after the Sondheim Tribute at the Shubert. That's when I first heard "Liaisons" and "Send In The Clowns". The next evening I was already missing "Silly People". One thing I'll always remember was how ALL the screens made one final cross-over left-to-right and right-to-left for the final tableau, just as if they were getting their own bow.

[HorseTears]

Posted: 3/17/14 at 1:44am

Man, it's so sad that there is no video of that set available. I've seen the stills and it looks so magical. If I had to choose one Sondheim original production to go back in time to see, this would have to be it. I'm eternally jealous of those of you who were around and able to experience it and I think it dreadfully sad that a generation of theatregoers will have that dreadful Trevor Nunn production as their primary reference. I am so grateful that I got to see the magnificent LA Opera revival in 2004 with Judith Ivey, Laura Benanti, Victor Garber, Michelle Pawk, Zoe Caldwell and Marc Kudisch.


"Then late in Act II the show took flight in the quietest way possible: an oboe played those simple triads and Glynis Johns in her ravishing red dress sitting on that canopied bed began the first notes of SEND IN THE CLOWNS. Such a perfect beautiful moment, so honest and clear that the tears were streaming down my face by the end of the scene.We had never heard that soon-to-be-famous melody before but the shock of such innate beauty was immediate. The rest of the show was bliss."

SomeoneInATree2 - YES!! I saw the LA Opera production in my early 20s -- my first experience with Night Music, other than the OBCR. And, while I always thought "Clowns" was a lovely, pleasant song, I never understood why it became this breakout hit for Sondheim. Then, I saw it in the context of the show. Ivey and Garber played the moment so brilliantly -- Ivey's amused, then painfully rueful rendition and Garber's visible sorrow and regret were just gorgeous in that scene, as the oboe started and those delicate strings seemed to almost float up from the orchestra pit. A song that I--and I imagine much of the audience--had heard a hundred times before was suddenly infused with a deeply emotional, but delicately played sense of regret and pain. I'm not easily moved to tears, but I had them streaming down my face that evening and there were lots of sniffles in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion after the scene ended. I'll never know the glory of the original production, but I'm glad I got to experience what was likely the second best production.

[nobodyhome]

Posted: 3/17/14 at 6:23pm

I know people who saw the show on Broadway, and they found the set's movements noisy. I saw it three times and I don't remember finding it at all noisy so I've always been mystified. But some people evidently did, even on Broadway. I don't know.