Timbuktu 1978
Timbuktu 1978
#1Timbuktu 1978
Posted: 5/21/13 at 9:08pm
Did anyone see this? I really don't know much about it, but I was looking at clips from the original production starring Eartha Kitt and it looks SPECTACULAR!
Has there ever been plans for a revival? From what I saw Patina Miller could be terrific in Eartha's role.
John Adams
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/1/13
#2Timbuktu 1978
Posted: 5/21/13 at 9:29pm
Even when it premiered, Timbuktu was a revival. It's a re-working of Kismet, reset in Africa.
And yes, Eartha Kitt's entrance was SPECTACULAR! ...Although knowing the kinds and frequency of accidents that happen on Broadway these days (Spider-Man, anyone?), she probably would have been dropped pretty often. 
Eartha Kitt's Entrance in Timbuktu
Updated On: 5/21/13 at 09:29 PM
#2Timbuktu 1978
Posted: 5/21/13 at 9:45pm
Well it is possible to revive a revival, isn't that what they're doing with Cabaret?
And yeah, if this were staged today, that entrance would've probably been a mechanical extravaganza.
egghumor
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/9/11
#5Timbuktu 1978
Posted: 5/22/13 at 8:40am
Melba Moore backstage, getting ready for a performance. She played Marsinah
#7Timbuktu 1978
Posted: 5/22/13 at 8:50am
Oh my, those are some amazing costumes!!
And Eartha was so gorgeous!
morosco
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/10/04
#8Timbuktu 1978
Posted: 5/22/13 at 9:17amIt was one of the first musicals to cost over 1 million dollars to produce. Pocket change compared to the cost of today's musical.
raker
Stand-by Joined: 12/27/08
#9Timbuktu 1978
Posted: 5/22/13 at 2:10pmI saw Tumbuktu in Boston. It was one of the first musicals I ever saw. I remember Eartha Kitt's campy Eartha Kitt-ness, played to the hilt, was enjoyable. Mostly I remember the performance of Night of My Nights, up and down the aisles of the Shubert theater. It was a knockout, joyous and wonderful.
#10Timbuktu 1978
Posted: 5/22/13 at 3:13pm
I remember reading that Gilbert Price suspected Melba Moore of paying the show's sound engineer to lower his mike so her voice would be more prominent in their duets. This alleged act forced him to sing more forcefully and as a result he developed polyps in his throat.
I am surprised that outside of a "Selections from 'Timbuktu'" studio recording featuring Eartha, Lena Horne and Sarah Vaughan, amongst others that a full-fledged cast recording was never released.
I've always loved Gilbert Price's voice.
ARTc
Stand-by Joined: 11/4/11
#11Timbuktu 1978
Posted: 5/22/13 at 3:23pm
I saw, Timbuktu, in 1978. It wasn't very well received and my memory of it was that it was rather mediocre and didn't run for too long because of the poor reception.
Updated On: 5/22/13 at 03:23 PM
#12Timbuktu 1978
Posted: 5/22/13 at 3:28pmTimbuktu was lovely to look at: endless yards of fabric draping off nearly naked bodies. And such bodies. I remember being disappointed that they did not do the quartet version of "And This Is My Beloved," though Melba Moore's solo of it was ravishing.
#13Timbuktu 1978
Posted: 5/22/13 at 3:42pmHow wonderful that sounds! I read there was gold Lamé everywhere.
#14Timbuktu 1978
Posted: 5/22/13 at 5:14pmMelba Moore left the production after 6 months. She was replaced by her understudy Vanessa Shaw. The show closed a month after.
#15Timbuktu 1978
Posted: 5/22/13 at 9:02pmI saw it. It was enjoyable although not a great musical. Eartha Kitt did make her entrance on some very hot body builders. She looked fierce. They lowered her down to the stage slowly and she growled '"My name is Saleem La Loom." It was quite an entrance. It was a camp hoot. That's all I really remember about the evening. Eartha and Melba did not get along and that is why Melba left the show (so I'm told)
#16Timbuktu 1978
Posted: 5/22/13 at 9:14pm
No, Melba left the show because she went on tour to promote her new album and her song "You Stepped Into My Life" which was climbing up the charts.
But she did have this to say about Eartha:
Flush with success, Moore returned to her first love and launched a recording career that saw multiple Grammy nominations throughout the 70s. She returned to Broadway in Geoffrey Holder's visually exotic but troubled production of Timbuktu! On her co-star Eartha Kitt, Moore demurs. "Let's just say I have better memories of Eartha after the show closed. She was going through some problems, and basically was not a nice person to be around at the time. It was a beautiful show and should have toured and been recorded, but Eartha really slam-dunked it. She killed it. I hope somebody does it again someday."
Updated On: 5/22/13 at 09:14 PM
Videos