When Barbara Cook Quit Carrie
When Barbara Cook Quit Carrie
Leadingplayer
Broadway Star Joined: 5/12/03
#1When Barbara Cook Quit Carrie
Posted: 8/30/12 at 1:09amand Betty Buckley was in negotiations...did they approach anyone else?
Dollypop
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#2When Barbara Cook Quit Carrie
Posted: 8/30/12 at 1:12amJesus Christ, Grandma. Get a new "joke" already.
Phyllis Rogers Stone
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/16/07
#3When Barbara Cook Quit Carrie
Posted: 8/30/12 at 1:28am
I heard the Buckle tell it like this, which I think was a radio interview or podcast or something. After London, Barbara Cook wasn't doing it anymore and would Betty do it? Betty was hemming and hawing and then the night before rehearsals were about to start or something, they said if Betty didn't do it then the show wasn't going to happen. So, I would guess the answer is no. At least the way she tells it.
Leadingplayer
Broadway Star Joined: 5/12/03
#4When Barbara Cook Quit Carrie
Posted: 8/30/12 at 1:46amI heard that podcast too...that's what made me wonder. With a big investment like that on the line I'd think they'd be looking at other people too and not just leave it all up to Buckley.
#5When Barbara Cook Quit Carrie
Posted: 8/30/12 at 2:13pmBetty was offered the role first, before anyone else, when they knew they were going to Broadway. She had to turn it down because of scheduling conflicts. Then they found Barbara Cook. When Barbara left they went back to ask Betty and she really wanted to do the show because she liked the material so much. I *believe* she told them she would do it before they left Stratford. I suppose enough time had passed that her schedule had freed up a bit and she was able to do it. I can see why they would have thought about not coming to Broadway without Barbara or Betty too, tho. There was no other "star" in the show. Besides Gene Anthony Ray and he was such a drugged up mess they really couldn't count on him and he wasn't a big enough star. There was so much money put into the show (which I never understood ... it didn't go to costumes or a set so where was it all) that they weren't going to bother moving it without a star.
#6When Barbara Cook Quit Carrie
Posted: 8/30/12 at 2:22pmI think Betty was better for the role in the end. She was more animated than Barbara in my opinion.
If you don't mind taking it as it turns out, it's a fine, fine LIFE!
#7When Barbara Cook Quit Carrie
Posted: 8/30/12 at 2:26pmI agree with you. Barbara had a much more operatic approach to the show. But, to be fair, she hated it. She thought "Well, this is the Royal Shakespeare Company. If something isn't working they're going to see it and fix it. Well, they didn't. They just kept running the same grueling dance numbers." In the rehearsal footage you can see her during Heaven flipping through her script repeatedly trying to find out where the hell they were. Supposedly she also gave Terry Hands an axe on opening night for the way he butchered the show. And, if that's true, that makes her my hero!
#8When Barbara Cook Quit Carrie
Posted: 8/30/12 at 2:28pm
I love Barbara Cook, and would drop everything to see her in anything. But she's too good natured to play that part. She exudes good humor and amiability onstage. She's an actress, yes, but I don't know she can play crazy the way Buckley can.
Buckley was a better choice.
#9When Barbara Cook Quit Carrie
Posted: 8/30/12 at 2:31pmIf she really gave him an axe she is my hero as well!
#10When Barbara Cook Quit Carrie
Posted: 8/30/12 at 2:50pmI've never seen the rehearsal footage.
If you don't mind taking it as it turns out, it's a fine, fine LIFE!
BrodyFosse123
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/27/06
#11When Barbara Cook Quit Carrie
Posted: 8/30/12 at 3:18pm
Charlotte d'Amboise spoke quite extensively on her experience with CARRIE many years ago on Seth Rudetsky's Chatterbox. He even showed the entire "In" number from the grainy/blurry (and now legendary) bootleg video of Act 1 that exists of the Broadway incarnation of CARRIE and her narration of the choreography (especially her gymnastic bits) are genius.
She talked about how everyone in the cast was aware that things were just not right, especially with the costumes and how they all expected the show to be reworked after England for its Broadway transfer. They were all shocked that nothing was 'fixed' at all, just some of the choreography. Don't remember what she said about the replacing of Barbara Cook for Betty Buckley, though.
She speaks quite frankly about CARRIE and embraces the cult status the musical has attained and it is one performing credit she is proud to have. As she says "a job is a job" and it is part of the nature of the business for a show to flop. CARRIE was just another show for her and its failure didn't faze her one bit. Actors are genuninely surprised when a show they are in actually succeeds and has a decent run.
#12When Barbara Cook Quit Carrie
Posted: 8/30/12 at 3:26pmcan anyone here help me locate the rehearsal footage?
If you don't mind taking it as it turns out, it's a fine, fine LIFE!
BrodyFosse123
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/27/06
#13When Barbara Cook Quit Carrie
Posted: 8/30/12 at 3:44pm
Though a pretty good quality print DOES exist of this, sadly the one posted on YouTube is this crappy quality one.
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nE_ax0su4c
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBvvf5Xnwfc
Mr Roxy
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/17/03
#14When Barbara Cook Quit Carrie
Posted: 8/30/12 at 9:31pm
She quit as Dolly wanted the part and she graciously stepped aside.
It fell thru as Dolly refused to sing unless it was the the Hello Dolly score.
Poster Emeritus
Leadingplayer
Broadway Star Joined: 5/12/03
#15When Barbara Cook Quit Carrie
Posted: 8/30/12 at 10:00pmBetty was never "busy"...she said she turned it down because they wouldn't meet her "business demands".....the second time theuy offered it to her they supposedly had long negotiations which she finally agreed to...I wonder if they would have gone with a non-name had she declined.
#16When Barbara Cook Quit Carrie
Posted: 8/30/12 at 10:56pmIt was hard to watch Barbara Cook limp and waddle down that staircase. She was not fit enough for the role. I love her but she was never a good fit for the part.
"The sexual energy between the mother and son really concerns me!"-random woman behind me at Next to Normal
"I want to meet him after and bang him!"-random woman who exposed her breasts at Rock of Ages, referring to James Carpinello
Leadingplayer
Broadway Star Joined: 5/12/03
#17When Barbara Cook Quit Carrie
Posted: 8/31/12 at 2:01amaccording to wikipedia Maureen McGovern did the workshop with Laurie Beachman as the gym teacher....I wonder if they were ever offered it.
lotiloti
Broadway Star Joined: 1/23/06
#18When Barbara Cook Quit Carrie
Posted: 8/31/12 at 7:21am
I saw this at Stratford. Talented lady that she is, B.C. was so wrong for this. She looked totally out of her comfort zone. She must have been relieved it wasn't going into the West End. I thought at the time, that she might pull out of the Broadway run. She really looked unhappy. My friends loved the show! I loathed it & predicted it wouldn't last a week on Broadway.
I'm amazed they tried to revive it. You can't polish a turd !!
#19When Barbara Cook Quit Carrie
Posted: 8/31/12 at 6:03pmI think Mary Testa should play Margaret somewhere.
If you don't mind taking it as it turns out, it's a fine, fine LIFE!
#20When Barbara Cook Quit Carrie
Posted: 8/31/12 at 8:43pm^^^ I think that is a brilliant idea! She would be a killer Margaret.
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