Tovarich

[Mildred Plotka]

Posted: 6/27/10 at 10:33pm

I've had the OBCR forever and just took it out of the wrapping and gave it a listen. I absolutely adore it. I've read the liner notes but haven't been able to find much else. Anyone have any interesting info on this show?

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 6/27/10 at 11:33pm

Which Cd version do you have?

I believe the DRG edition merely reprints the liner notes from teh original Capitol (gatefold) LP jacket. The 1993 Broadway Ange edition gave much more insight and 30 years perspective. This is why I kept the entire Broadway Angel series (50 CD's) and did not bother replacing them with the DRG reissues. From all I have heard the sonic qualities are the same (and the Angels were very good anyhow.)

[Mildred Plotka]

Posted: 6/27/10 at 11:55pm

Oh shoot I have the DRG release. Maybe I'll track down the Angel issue.

[After Eight]

Posted: 6/28/10 at 4:29am

I was fortunate enough to have seen this musical in the long, long ago, and I loved it. Vivian Leigh was wonderful-- luminous, actually- and I'll never forget how movingly she sang "The Only One." The whole show was a delight.

A couple of things about this show:

It had a song written by other composers, entitled "You'll Make an Elegant Butler," that was omitted from the recording. What was unusual here was that the composers of this song were given credit for it in the Playbill, whereas ghostwritten songs during this time usually were uncredited. It was a cute song, and though I heard it only once, I can still remember the melody. There was another unrecorded song, "Managed."

Another odd thing about this show was that it took far longer than usual to issue its cast recording, several months.

Recently, it was revived in the Musicals Tonite series in NY. I thought it held up very well, and I loved it once again.

[Gypsy9]

Posted: 6/28/10 at 7:21am

Sorry to burst your bubble, but I saw TOVARICH and was not particularly impressed with it. I have no memory of the score. This was a show that I second acted a few times for the hell of it. I seem to recall that Vivian Leigh was having health issues during the run and her standby, Joan Copland, went on for her often and eventually took over her part for the balance of the run. I have no desire to buy the CD, unusual for me since I have a CD for virtually all of the shows that I have seen.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 6/28/10 at 8:51am

Hmmm. I saw the show late in its run and one of the Gabor sisters had replaced Vivian Leigh. Eva?

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 6/28/10 at 9:17am

Read the most recent Olivier Bio and especially the Vivien Leigh Bio for all the drama concerning this show. The backstage stuff seems much more interesting than anything happening on stage.

[After Eight]

Posted: 6/28/10 at 10:16am

"Hmmm. I saw the show late in its run and one of the Gabor sisters had replaced Vivian Leigh. Eva?"


Yes, it was Eva.

[wildcat]

Posted: 6/28/10 at 10:48am

Cast member Louise Troy tells some stories about TOVARICH in the wonderful book of interviews called SING OUT, LOUISE!

[WOSQ]

Posted: 6/28/10 at 11:24am

Tovarich only ran about 6-8 months and played 3 different theatres. I can't remember the order, but they were the Broadway, Majestic and Winter Garden. It was like they kept getting bumped out of various houses.

Joan Copeland did play many performances because Vivien Leigh was often indisposed for physical and mental issues. After Leigh's eventual withdrawal from the show and Eva Gabor taking over, the show folded quickly since Gabor didn't sell tickets the way Leigh did. However the following summer Gabor and Aumont did a stock tour of the show on the Music Fair circuit.

Vivien Leigh is on that short odd list of Tony winners that are dramatic actors winning for musical roles. Bacall and Burton are others.

[sondheimboy2]

Posted: 6/28/10 at 5:16pm

I believe that it only got recorded BECAUSE Vivien Leigh won the Tony for it.

[twinbelters]

Posted: 6/28/10 at 5:37pm

(Don't Vivian and Jean Pierre look like hell?)

The score is pleasant, but not nearly as good as Lee Pockriss' score for "Ernest In Love." It looks like the DRG reissue is out of print and is priced rather expensively on Amazon while the Angel issue is reasonably priced.

I still would like to know more comprehensively if the DRG reissues of the Capitol titles have anything over the Angel issues. I believe I read there is a new interview with Barbara Cook in the DRG "The Gay Life."

Updated On: 6/28/10 at 05:37 PM

[After Eight]

Posted: 6/28/10 at 8:28pm

"The score is pleasant, but not nearly as good as Lee Pockriss' score for "Ernest In Love.""

Funny, I think "Tovarich" is better. I've never really warmed up to "Ernest in Love," either on stage or on disc.

[GlindatheGood22]

Posted: 6/28/10 at 9:04pm

Woah, watch it, twinbelters. Lady Olivier was beautiful inside and out. :)

[PalJoey]

Posted: 6/28/10 at 10:56pm

I don't think she could ever be called Lady Olivier, since he wasn't made a lord until long after she was dead.

Only Joan Plowright earned the title "Lady Olivier."

(Except Larry, but only to his closest friends.)

[Mildred Plotka]

Posted: 6/28/10 at 11:17pm

I've loved Ernest is Love for years and was so happy to see it at Irish Rep earlier this year (with Beth Fowler in a top notch production). I'm more fascinated by Tovarich than in love with the quality of the material (though quite a few of the songs are wonderful).

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 6/29/10 at 12:46am

Another odd thing about this show was that it took far longer than usual to issue its cast recording, several months.


This is true. In a day when the labels recorded a cast album the first Sunday after opening and rush-released the records to stores a few days later, TOVARICH, opened March 18, 1963 without a label committed to recording it. After Leigh won the Tony Award and made a celebrated appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, Capitol recorded it May 19 and released it June 24. The show was still playing then but closed November 9 after 264 performances.

[Matt2]

Posted: 3/6/12 at 4:16pm

Here's a performance from Tovarich on The Ed Sullivan Show. Vivien Leigh and Byron Mitchell perform "Wilkes-Barre, PA" -- my favorite number from the show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHwENst4Mxo&list=UUSBGbQh-O8YUdO0670zpaWw&index=4&feature=plcp

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 3/6/12 at 4:40pm

I'm listening to it right now on my MOG app. Never heard it before and this thread inspired it.

If no one knows MOG, you should.

So far I can only say the overture is sprightly, repetitive, and very Russian-y.

* * *
(three tracks later)

this is actually a cute and silly score, isn't it? Aumont and Leigh are a hoot!

Encores? Szot? Cotillard?



Updated On: 3/6/12 at 04:40 PM

[logan2]

Posted: 3/7/12 at 9:30pm

Hang on Pal Joey! Vivien was defintely Lady Olivier. Laurence was knighted in June of 1947. Vivien died twenty years later in 1967!

[chrisampm2]

Posted: 3/7/12 at 9:44pm

TwinBelters, what makes you think Leigh and Aumont look like hell? Because their foreheads are lined? I think they look great. Life's left its mark, but to me that seems more like seasoning than destruction - especially with Aumont.