Why Did the 2001 Revival of Bells Are Ringing Fail?

[Vespertine1228]

Posted: 12/2/06 at 11:34am

Inspired by the sad recent death of Betty Comden, I've been rediscovering some of her shows. Bells Are Ringing is my favorite.

Why was the 2001 revival of the show with Faith Prince such a failure? I think it's a fantastic show, and can't seem to get any real information about its demise from my searches of past posts.

Any help or anyone who actually saw it would be very helpful. I know it's at TOFT, so maybe I'll just discover it for myself.

[Fenchurch]

Posted: 12/2/06 at 12:05pm

I saw the show during one of it's last performances, in fact I sat behind Adolph Green.

I had always been a fan of the show, but I think the real reason it didnt last was that the show is just kind of dated, the production was beautiful and very fun to watch and listen to, and I think Faith Prince was a tad midcast, I thought she would have been great, but she just didnt deliver for me, whereas I thought Kudisch was awesome.

[jimnysf]

Posted: 12/2/06 at 12:30pm

I enjoyed this production and was sorry to see it fail. Yes, it is dated but so are a lot of other older shows as well as some current ones ("Rent"). It just never found an audience.

[B3TA07]

Posted: 12/2/06 at 12:37pm

Because the Follies revival took all its business.

[TomMonster]

Posted: 12/2/06 at 12:41pm

The Follies revival was also a flop.

IMO, I think Faith's performance hurt the show. As much as I love her, the part just didn't fit right for her. On paper, it feels like a match, but strangely didn't work as well in performance.

[B3TA07]

Posted: 12/2/06 at 12:43pm

Hello, a joke. Nice to meet you.

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 12/2/06 at 12:45pm

I was a huge fan of the movie with Judy Holliday and saw it dozens of times. For me, the revival of Bell Are Ringing was a big disappointment. Faith Prince--a tremendously talented actress who has clearly demonstrated a zany, fun-loving side--failed to be even the least charismatic as Ella Peterson. She seemed pained and uncomfortable in the role. (My husband liked it though. Go figure.)

Maybe it has something to do with Judy Holliday, I don't know. I also went to see the revival of Born Yesterday with Madeline Kahn, whom I ADORED--as much as I worshipped Judy Holliday! However, Ms. Kahn was, uncharacteristically, uncharismatic as Billie Dawn as well!

Judy Holliday was an extremely tough act to follow...even for actresses as accomplished as the aforementioned.

[TomMonster]

Posted: 12/2/06 at 12:46pm

Sarcasm is so hard to type...

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 12/2/06 at 12:51pm

I hated the Follies revival too!!!! (And that had nuthin' to do with Judy Holliday!)

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 12/2/06 at 12:53pm

I agree about everyone's assessment that Faith Prince just didn't work in the role.

Before this revival happened, everyone kept saying "oh, they must mount a revival of BELLS ARE RINGING for Faith Prince. She was BORN to play Ella!".

Unfortunately, um-ah, no. She just didn't have any stage chemistry with the role. She overplayed her scenes, especially her comic moments. If she got a laugh, she'd milk the laugh till it wasn't funny any more.

The sets were spectacular and completely period perfect in their sylish minimalism, as were the costumes. The orchestrations (as the Original Broadway Revival Cast Recording can attest) was perfection.

Faith? She just wasn't right for the role. Everyone else was perfect, just not her.

After attending the show with a friend of mine and after I harped and bellowed about what a genius Broadway gem Fait Prince was, he asked me again - "...what's so great about her? I don't get it".

'Nuff said.


Updated On: 12/2/06 at 12:53 PM

[IssaMe]

Posted: 12/2/06 at 1:03pm

I love Faith...but when at the Tonys afternoon rehearsal the understudy stood in (and sang) for her, the role of Ella suddenly came alive vividly (if only for one song in a run-through) as it never did when Faith played her.

Plus, of course, the producers ran out of money, bounced checks, and the financial scandal began. It ended up a terrible mess and Equity had to step in - with payment of salaries out of the security bond.

Updated On: 12/2/06 at 01:03 PM

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 12/2/06 at 1:16pm

I remember when Faith performed one of the numbers on the Today Show, and from that alone, I had no desire to see this show.

I, like most everyone else, thought she would have been perfect in the role.

Miss Pennywise - I didn't like Born Yesterday either, and I was a huge fan of Madeline Kahn.

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 12/2/06 at 1:22pm

I wish I could have seen this...I love the recording and think I would have enjoyed the show.

[Mirth]

Posted: 12/2/06 at 1:56pm

Who else -besides the amazing Ms.Kahn- might have caught the energy of the role? Michelle Greene,perhaps...? I had high hopes for Melanie Griffiths in "Born Yesterday" and the same letdown...

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 12/2/06 at 2:11pm

Having seen both the Follies revival & Bells, we enjoyed both

Re Follies, you cannot adequately revive the original no matter what. Too bad the papermill production did not tranfer to broadway as that would have been great. My wife never saw the original & we did like it but it could have been better. Bells was pleasant much like Wonderful Town but both were very dated

[InfiniteTheaterFrenzy]

Posted: 12/2/06 at 2:14pm

I found Steven Suskin's dissertation on this in the 2000- 2001 Broadway Yearbook enlightening. You might want to check that out if you're interested

[PalJoey]

Posted: 12/2/06 at 2:22pm

Voicemail.

[nobodyhome]

Posted: 12/2/06 at 4:10pm

Didn't see the production as I don't love Prince and, even though I love Comden and Green, I don't think the show represents them at their best. The original production didn't even receive such great reviews for the show, but love letters for Holliday, and she was why people went to it. (Of course, at least one critic wrote that Gypsy wasn't much of a show, but at least it was a chance to see Merman. But that guy was in the minority. On BAR, this sense of "the show wouldn't be much without the star" was more widely expressed.)

Still, the show was done a lot in stock with lots of people ranging from Martha Raye to Betty White. But the role was so written for Holliday that it's hard for others to triumph in it. Still, others have triumphed in roles closely tailored for the original stars. I just think the show isn't that good.

A friend saw the concert version that Prince did in D.C. a couple of years before the Broadway revival. It was also directed by Tina Landau, but Prince played opposite Alan Campbell there.

My friend says Prince was great in D.C., but seemed to be working too hard on Broadway, as if she had to carry it on her back and the effort had left her feeling stressed.

It could be that she had no chemistry with Kudisch. Or perhaps for some shows, less rehearsal is better. Or maybe it was just that she felt under pressure on Broadway in a way that she hadn't when not a lot was at stake in D.C..

[mike L G]

Posted: 12/2/06 at 4:28pm

I saw the show the afternoon of the tony's and loved it
and i also was a big fan of the show listening to it from the time a was a young boy. I had been to see the Follie's the night before which was the closing night so there was a lot of
excitement there including seeing Ann Miller there and I had been in attendance of the Paper mill Follie's and I got to tell her
that I thought she had done a faboulous job with I'm Still Here.
I also was very pleased with Polly Bergen's job.

Updated On: 12/2/06 at 04:28 PM

[Jon]

Posted: 12/2/06 at 6:19pm

I believe John Simon summed it up this way:

"Ten years too old and 20 pounds too fat".

Yes, it's mean, but true.

Faith Prince is the same age as Bebe Neuwirth, Donna Murphy and Karen Ziemba, but comes across much more matronly. Her next stage appearance was in A MAN OF NO IMPORTANCE, playing a frumpy middle aged spinster.

[roquat]

Posted: 12/2/06 at 6:48pm

GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES (from the same era) is another dated, middling show that I think will probably never work again, no matter how big a star tackles it. Kristin Chenoweth could maybe make it work, but why would she want to?

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 12/2/06 at 6:58pm

John Simon on Faith Prince in BELLS ARE RINGING:

"There are several things wrong here, but the worst -- contrary to what you may have read elsewhere -- was the casting of Faith Prince as the solicitous and charismatic phone-answering-service operator Ella Peterson, a role Judy Holliday irradiated at the 1956 premiere with armor-piercing charm. Miss Prince, regrettably, has some twenty extra years and an equal number of extra pounds under her belt, which, however, is trifling compared with her slim spontaneity and slender charm. Looking like Angela Lansbury on a bad-hair day, she seems about as likely to fill the sullen and hostile riders on a New York subway with fraternal love as able to transform the Sahara into a botanical garden."

[TomMonster]

Posted: 12/2/06 at 7:12pm

Gotta love Simon's bitter and evil wit. He has said many times that only beautiful women should appear on the stage...

What a nut job!

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 12/2/06 at 7:20pm

Old Johnny started out crazy & has gone downhill from there

He is not exactly what one would call a James Bond in the looks department. He was never good looking & has also gone downhill from there

[roquat]

Posted: 12/2/06 at 11:17pm

Liza Minnelli, Barbra Streisand, Bette Midler, and Gwyneth Paltrow (???) probably have enough to sue John Simon for slander by now. Professional criticism is one thing, personal trashing another. You can say someone is miscast or, say, the wrong physical type for a role without stooping to "she should get a nose job/lose fifteen pounds/commit suicide."

Not to mention that every time Wallace Shawn appears in something, Mr. Simon feels compelled to restate his opiniion that Shawn "only has a career because his father, William Shawn, is the editor of 'The New Yorker'". EVERY time. Talk about a lawsuit waiting to happen...